Tokyo's fall to a 13-year low and more profit warnings by major British corporates - this time by EMI - meant that the Irish market took another dive. But the fall in Irish share prices was far less than on some of the major European markets and Wall Street's muted response to the continuing Japanese financial crisis augurs well for a rebound.
But a variety of factors - political and economic - is continuing to weigh on equity markets, and it is virtually impossible to find anybody who is willing to call the market in the short term, apart from repeating the well-worn mantra that markets will remain volatile for some time.
Most of the usual stocks lost ground, with AIB down 27p on 875p, Bank of Ireland 13p lower on £10.67, CRH off 18p on 792p while Smurfit was 1p easier on 102p as the market waits to see whether the Stone merger with JS Corp will go ahead in its current shape. Stone - which fell heavily on Friday on reports that a debt-financing package had been scrapped - was marginally weaker at just under $8.
Fitzwilton finally departed the market with its shares delisted following the completion of the O'Reilly/Goulandris takeover, and there will probably be very few who will regret Fitzwilton's passing into private hands. If any stock failed to deliver to shareholders/investors it was Fitzwilton and if any company chopped and changed its strategy it was also Fitzwilton.
On NASDAQ, Irish technology shares were mixed, with CBT recovering $1 1/2 of last week's losses to trade at $32 1/2 while Iona was $3/4 lower on $21 1/2. Ryanair was $1/8 easier on $35 3/8 while Elan lost $1 1/4 to $61 3/4.
