The Irish stock market has ended the year with a record closing high. The ISEQ index gained 16 points to close at 7,364 this afternoon. It has gained about 18% during the year.
The Dublin market closed at lunchtime today, ahead of the New Year holiday.
2005's increases have been driven by the financial sector with the country's main banks all strongly ahead. The other big winners this year were building materials giant CRH and low fares airline Ryanair.
Though the ISEQ has had an impressive run since its low point of the year at 5,779 on April 28, it has lagged the returns of some of the other European exchanges. Its performance has once again been hit by the problems with Elan, which saw its shares plunge in February and March after the withdrawal of its MS drug Tysabri.
The Dublin stock market reopens on Tuesday, January 3.
