The white-knuckle ride on world stock markets showed no sign of slowing down today as US markets swung in and out of profit in early trading, struggling to sustain a powerful surge seen the previous day.
After making its biggest percentage gain in 15 years yesterday, the US Dow Jones industrial average opened lower today.
The blue-chip index swung in and out of profit, trading up 0.5 per cent at 8,229.0 points as trading drew to a close in Europe, while the tech-rich Nasdaq composite fell 2.2 per cent to 1,262.4 points.
As part of efforts to shore up confidence in USA Inc after a string of company accounting scandals, the US House of Representatives passed a key corporate reform bill in a 423-3 vote today.
The bill would tighten oversight of auditors, stiffen penalties for errant executives and require greater accountability for financial statements from top corporate officers.
But there was still some troubled spots as shares AOL Time Warner plunged 1.90 to 9.50 after brokers downgraded the stock in the wake of its admission that the US Securities and Exchange Commission have launched an informal probe into its accounting practices.
And there was glum news from Germany after closely watched data from the Ifo economics research institute showed industrial confidence sliding to a five-month low. The figures left the Frankfurt DAX 30 nursing a loss of 1.8 per cent at 3,568.2 points in late trading.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index climbed 3.8 per cent to 2,530.3 points in late trading.
The ISEQ closed up 89.03 points at 4,042.51, a gain of 2.25 per cent and its first rise in five days taking it off the near four year low it hit last night.
Leading the gains were the financial stocks, offsetting a disappointing turn by the construction sector, where CRH lost over 1 per cent in value.
First Active topped the poll as the market warmed to its positive interim results this morning, sending the shares up 17cent to €4.40, a gain of 4 per cent. Also rising was AIB, up 33cent to €11.25, Bank of Ireland, up 40cent to €10.30 and Irish Life, gaining 10cent to €12.60. Shares in Anglo Irish added 41cent to €5.81.
The London FTSE 100 index of leading shares won back 5.0 per cent to close at 3,965.9 points and the Paris CAC 40 soared 4.2 per cent to 3,149.7 points.
On the foreign exchange markets, the euro see-sawed around one dollar, buying 1.0011 in late London trading.
Leading Asian markets had earlier been unimpressed by the Dow's brief surge. Japanese share prices shed 0.2 per cent today ahead of Japan's quarterly earnings season, while Hong Kong shares lost 0.9 per cent.
AFP