Bad day at the market as US warnings hit banks hard

Iseq: 5,230.74 (-185.33) Settlement date: July 1stMORE WARNINGS about financial stocks and the US economy sent Irish shares tumbling yesterday, wiping out Wednesday's gains along the way.

Dealers said two Goldman Sachs notes, one predicting more writedowns for banking giant Citigroup and the other, on General Motors, offering little hope on the US economy, were partly to blame.

Fortis' efforts to raise cash from capital markets was another factor.

As usual, financials and CRH led the way down. The building materials group lost €1.71 or 9 per cent to close at €17.15 as investors sold around 1.27 million shares in the company in Dublin.

AIB was off 45 cent or 4.52 per cent at €9.50. Just over 2.2 million of the bank's shares changed hands. Bank of Ireland shed 3.75 per cent to close at €5.90. Its volumes were particularly large, and investors sold 4.3 million shares in the bank on the Dublin market yesterday.

Mortgage lender, Irish Life Permanent took a real drubbing, and 10.47 per cent was wiped off its value, as it ended the day at €7.95. Anglo Irish Bank dropped 45 cent or 6.48 per cent to end the day at €6.50.

Airlines also suffered as oil prices began edging up again following suggestions from major producer, Lybia, that it could hit $1.50 a barrel. Ryanair was down 26 cent or 8.5 per cent at €2.80 on trades totalling four million shares. Aer Lingus was down 2.55 per cent at €1.53.

A downbeat trading statement saw insurance group FBD lose 8.66 per cent of its value to close at €18.90. Greencore continued to suffer from the fallout of this week's profit warning and fell 8.61 per cent to €1.91.

Pharmaceutical group, Elan, provided one of the few bright spots of the day. It closed up 4.6 per cent at €22.20.