Although world markets were more buoyant today on the back of positive economic data, the Irish market weakened slightly to finish down 13.51 points at 3,342.18.
Oil and exploration company Petroneft Resources succeeded in attracted plenty of buying interest after releasing an operations update this morning. The company, which trades on the IEX junior market, said that results from its first production well were positive, and that its pipeline construction is substantially completed. The stock finished the day up more than 7 per cent at 39 cent.
Fellow exploration stock Tullow Oil was also firmer on the day, with its London line gaining almost 1 per cent to close at £13.28.
The two main banks were also positive on the day. AIB was up almost 4 per cent, or 6 cent, at €1.61, while Bank of Ireland added close to 3 per cent, or 5 cent, to €1.72.
Elsewhere, Glanbia faltered, slipping close to 2 per cent, or 5.5 cent, to just under €3.15. One broker attributed this decline to a media report which appeared to threw some doubt on the likelihood of the Glanbia co-op achieving the majority vote required to approve the proposed takeover of the company's Irish division.
Cement giant CRH once again proved the most active stock on the day. However although the stock reached the €19 mark during the session, it had fallen back to €18.91 by the close.
Kingspan lost its recent good form today and gave up a bit of profit. The stock closed at €7.24 after dropping almost 3 per cent, or 21 cent.
Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index rose 0.5 per cent, Germany's DAX gained 0.2 per cent and France's CAC 40 was up 0.2 per cent.
Additional reporting - Reuters