It's funny how sitting outside in the sun reading newspapers and drinking beer feels so much more healthy than sitting indoors reading newspapers and drinking beer. The only slight negative to the scenario is the stray breeze that blows the papers the length of the garden, but otherwise trawling through the supplements last Sunday (while kitted out in a T-shirt and shorts last seen in Portugal three months ago) was the perfect way to spend the day. A sunny weekend got great mileage on Monday too everyone was so cheerful and pleased about it you could almost forget that equity markets were still behaving like a bunch of related lemming colonies.

Actually, the downturn in markets was a major feature of the Sunday newspapers with various calls for the last one left holding a worthless piece of stock to turn out the lights. While you can't deny that there are justifiable reasons for selling some equities, it doesn't mean a wholesale stampede for the door is inevitable. Or maybe it does. I think I mentioned fear and greed in this column before (and if I didn't I'm sure I meant to) and fear and greed have a lot more to do with the movement of markets than any rational thought.

Let's face it, if you're the fundholder still in when everyone else has rushed for the door, you're going to feel the chill wind rather more than if you're in the middle of the crowd.

There's no doubt, though, that the Asian crisis and the chill wind is definitely blowing from the east is worrying people a lot more than it was last October. Then the market surged after its falls. Now, people are beginning to show concern about the future earnings of companies that either rely on Asia for business, or rely on other companies who rely on Asia for business.

In the meantime, the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Keizo Obuchi, has asked opposition parties to support the passage of Bills to help reform the country's banking system. I really love the comments that Japanese politicians come up with. This week Mr Obuchi said he would "incline my ear to the opposition's advice". Anyway, they're still pottering around trying to sort out the notion of bridge banks and I suppose something will get done eventually, but it's really not in the Japanese psyche to throw people out of work and close down financial institutions.

Financial institutions in Russia are having a hard time of it too. On Monday, Russia cancelled yet another debt auction while yields on its outstanding debt soared. Short-term interest rates are still rattling around 60 per cent, while 10-year debt was being quoted at 1,450 basis points higher than 10-year US treasuries.

The debt auction was cancelled because the Ministry of Finance felt that levels were too high. The most it could pay was 50 per cent. The problem here, of course, is that the Russians are running to stand still. Investors are demanding more and more in case of default, but higher and higher yields are increasing the likelihood of default so the circle grows ever more vicious.

Anyway, the government has said that it won't be borrowing on the international markets before October and probably just as well as there's only so much pain investors can take.

I'm feeling some pain myself at the moment, but purely of the physical variety as the man and myself decided that we'd join the local gym. As I write, every bone in my body aches (or is it every muscle, who knows?) courtesy of some maniac who decided I was able to spend 15 minutes on some thing called a cross-trainer followed by further time on cycling machines, treadmills and an assortment of other torture machines. And I'm paying for this.

Last Thursday's trip to Mount Juliet was much more civilised. This was my first ever invitation to a golf outing and, fortunately, I didn't even have to play golf. But I understand why it is that people get so enthusiastic about these outings (at least if the weather is half decent) because sitting overlooking the 18th green in the evening sunshine watching people struggling home, sure beats the hell out of watching the struggles of the Dow.

I have to congratulate my hosts who laid on activities for the non-golfers in the party although after the horseriding I could see why it was that John Wayne walked the way he did. I did, however, participate in the golf to some extent, since Mount Juliet (as I'm sure all you corporate golfers are aware) has a putting course which is a miniature golf course itself. Having redeemed myself from an eight at the first, I was gutted to find that a magnificent 25 over par wasn't enough to win the competition. And you may scoff at 25 over, but it wasn't the worst score.

I blame a few missed shots on the fact that I didn't have the right shoes and had to hire the putter. After all, for this championship stuff you need your own equipment and I hadn't had the time to get the feel of the thing. So I confidently expect that, with a bit of practise, I wouldn't end up in the water three times in a row. There is a kind of horrible fascination about watching the ball disappear over the edge at exactly the same spot each time you hit it.

The only drawback to the event was that I was somewhat tired and emotional the following morning and I had got as far as standing in the kitchen before I realised that I was wearing odd shoes. This was not a fashion statement.

However, I did find out something on the fashion statement side of things (courtesy of my male colleagues) which I have to share, particularly with my female readership.

Apparently, women who don't wear suits to work dress up on Fridays. Presumably this is so that they don't have to rush home and change before hitting the pubs/clubs/hotspots of Dublin's cosmopolitan nightlife. I never noticed this before and I can't say at this point whether or not it's true. But men are usually pretty observant about things like this. Which goes to prove that the effort can be worth it.

Have a nice Friday, girls.

Sheila O'Flanagan is a fixed-income specialist at NCB stockbrokers