Following early morning losses on the back of the WorldCom accounting scandal, European markets recovered somewhat this afternoon, but closing prices remained low.
In Dublin, the ISEQ index of Irish shares fell by almost 3 per cent to close at 4697.32.
London’s FTSE 100 lost nearly 4 per cent of its value when the market opened this morning, dropping over 185 points. By the time the market closed this evening, it had climbed back to 4,531 points, 2.16 per cent down on yesterday’s closing price.
European markets performed similarly. Having lost an average of 4 per cent of their value during the day, they gained slightly to close an average of about 2 per cent down.
The German DAX index hit a low of 3,946.7 points but it had climbed to 4103.33 by the evening, 2.4 per cent down on Tuesday’s price.
In France, the CAC 40 finished 1.73 per cent down on yesterday’s closing price, at 3701.13. At its lowest point, it had dropped below 3,600 points for the first time since September.
Banks, insurance companies and telecommunications providers were all badly affected by the WorldCom news. One of the biggest losers was Alcatel, the French telecommunications equipment maker, which fell 16.5 per cent to €7.81 following a revised profit forecast today.