Shares edge up after steep sell-off

Irish stocks lagged the recovery in equities across the European markets after yesterday's heavy sell-off. The Iseq gained 0.07 per cent compared with a jump of 1.1 per cent in the FTSE in London.

Building materials stocks climbed the most on the Irish stock market after falling hard in the previous day's trading.

Grafton rose 2.9 per cent or almost 8 cent to €2.65 and Kingspan rose 2.5 per cent or 15 cent to €5.95. CRH didn't perform as well, rising 1.1 per cent or 13 cent to €12.06 a share. The slight increase in value of the stock, which represents almost a quarter of the value of the index, helped push the index into positive territory for the session.

Bank of Ireland, the only Irish bank on the main Irish exchange, performed strongly early in the session, looking like it might reach the 10 cent mark at one point, before ending the day down 1 per cent at 9.3 cent a share.

Kerry Group rose 0.7 per cent or 18 cent to €26.16 a share after informing the market in a trading update that it was sticking with its earnings growth forecast for 2011.

Aer Lingus fell 2 per cent or just over 1 cent to 68 cent a share ahead of the publication of a trading update and extraorindary general meeting tomorrow.

Elan closed down 1.2 er cent at €8.50 and Irish Continental Group fell 1.7 per cent to €14.65.

Better-than-expected figures on the performance of the US jobs market and hopes of policy-easing measures from the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank pushed a recovery in stocks.

The Paris CAC rose 1.4 per cent and the Frankfurt DAX increased 2.2 per cent ahead of the Greek government's confidence vote on Friday, which, if lost by Greek prime minister George Papandreou, is most likely to lead to a general election and avert the referendum dreaded by investors.