The ISEQ index of Irish shares closed at 3,766.63, this evening, a drop of 92.52 points or 2.40 per cent on a day that one trader described as “absolute carnage”.
Once again the financial stocks bore the brunt of the sell off as speculation continued about the viability of US investment banks as stand alone entities.
The announcement of the establishment of a $180 billion fund to provide liquidity to markets by six of the world’s largest central banks took some time to be digested by the Irish market.
The backlog of deals booked overnight drove Bank of Ireland down as much as 8 per cent in the first hour of but by lunchtime the price recovered almost 1 per cent higher to €3.99.
The rally was shortlived however and it closed at €3.78, a fall of 4.55 per cent. Allied Irish Bank suffered from really aggressive selling driving it down 13 per cent to €5.22.
Irish life and Permanent was the only one of the banks to close in positive territory, up 4.1 per cent to €5.10.
Elsewhere in Europe the move by central bankers seemed to provide more comfort. Germany’s DAX was up marginally to 5863.42, London’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.66 per cent to 4880.00 and France’s Cac 40 shed 1 per cent to 3957.86.