With London and other international markets falling by up to 4 per cent after US Fed Reserve chairman, Mr Alan Greenspan's bearish comments on American interest rates, the Irish market took a hammering with the ISEQ down by almost 3 per cent as £1.4 billion was wiped off the value of shares. Wall Street, however, was showing some signs of settling at its lower levels and the Irish market may stabilise in the absence of any heavy follow-on selling in New York.

Financials, which have led the charge this year, were heavily marked down and some found themselves the focus of some heavy selling pressure. Bank of Ireland dropped 49 1/2p to £14.75 in size while AIB was 36p lower on £10.89. Other financials also closed sharply lower, with Anglo Irish down 5p on 205p, while Irish Life and Irish Permanent were both 15p lower on 670p and 965p respectively.

Leading industrials were weaker and CRH dropped 20 1/2p to £10.20 as the British building materials sector took a hit. Smurfit was 3p lower on 188p where the shares were well-offered. The JS Corp second-quarter results had little impact on dealings with the market focusing more on the current weakness in linerboard and newsprint prices and Smurfit's exposure to weak Far Eastern economies.

Green was 5p higher on 482p as Aberdeen Asset Managers revealed that it bought 783,740 shares on Monday to take its stake to 4.64 per cent. ITG disclosed that it received a 95.1 per cent take-up to its £12 million fundraising. DCM debutant Suparule begins trading today after completing its £2.5 million placing.