Interest fears sent financial shares lower once again with no sign that the slump in the sector - which has seen AIB shares almost halve in the space of six months - is coming to an and. Although most Irish brokers have the banks on their "buy" lists, there is a feeling in the market that they may fall further before they touch bottom.

AIB hit a trading low of €9.20 before closing down 22 cents on €9.28 while Bank of Ireland slumped to an early low of €6.68 before recovering modestly to close down 18 cents on €6.80. Other financials also came under pressure, with Anglo Irish down seven cents on €2.23 and Irish Life down 36 cents to €9.04 in a late sterling-denominated deal.

But the weakness in London and interest fears also took their toll on leading industrials and Smurfit - despite what were seen as good results from Smurfit Stone - tumbled 22 cents to €2.88 while CRH lost 37 cents to €19.40.

Eircom also came under the cosh and lost 15 cents to €4.08.

Among second-liners, Horizon gave up some of its recent extra ordinary gains and was 30 cents lower on €6.80, Fyffes lost 8 cents to €2.62 while Ryanair was 27 cents lower on €12.13. Irish Continental was one of the few to rise, with a 25 cent gain to €12.00. Ormonde was the latest of the exploration minnows to get a burst with the price doubling to 8 cents.

New York trading saw Trinity Biotech add 12 cents in the opening session to a new high of $31/2 while Elan and Icon were others to strengthen in early trading. Smartforce, however, was hit by a burst of selling and was trading over $2 lower, under $38 as Dublin closed.