The Dublin market took a hammering yesterday on the back of a slide on almost all international markets. Traders fear the US attacks on Afghanistan and Sudan could escalate and there is fresh speculation of turbulence in international currency markets.

Dealers in Dublin said that while there remains significant goodwill towards stocks in Dublin, the international uncertainties mean that overseas investors are taking very few risks.

Few stocks escaped unscathed, with leaders like AIB losing 32p to close at 1115p. Bank of Ireland was even worse, shedding 50p to close at 1230p.

Shares in Irish Permanent, which announces interim results next week, plummeted by 45p to 825p. Irish Life fared marginally better, down 14p to 620p. Not that all the financials fell dramatically Anglo Irish Bank only lost 2p to close at 185p.

Elsewhere the downward trend for Ryanair continued, slipping 20p to 495p, its lowest point for some weeks. Once again Waterford Wedgwood traded in large volumes, but finished down 2.5p at 71p.

Independent was down 5p at 325p. The company announced results for its South African operations and said the recent weakening in the rand and the resultant increase in interest rates "has created more challenging general trading conditions in the second half of 1998".

This would seem to indicate that the share price is likely to remain under pressure for the remainder of the year.