The Dublin market was down in line with world markets yesterday which were preparing themselves for a tightening of policy by the US Federal Reserve chairman, Mr Alan Greenspan.

The key policy-making committee of the Federal Reserve, the Open Market Committee, meets today to decide whether interest rates need to be increased. While most experts do not expect this to happen, there is a climate of heightened anxiety in global markets about inflation in the US economy.

While Dublin had not slipped as far as other markets, dealers said the difference was not worth "noting". "The market in Dublin tends not to mark stocks down as much as elsewhere, certainly not initially, but there is no doubt about the overall trend," said a dealer.

Early morning trading in Dublin was a response to the slump on Wall Street late on Friday evening. When the Dow Jones opened in the afternoon the trend was confirmed and investors decided there was only one way down.

The two leading stocks - AIB and Bank of Ireland - experienced contrasting fortunes amid the international uncertainties. While AIB remained unchanged at #14 (£11.03), Bank of Ireland, despite announcing strong results last week, fell back from #18.30 (£14.41) to #17.85 (£14.06).

Bank of Ireland's shares have been falling since Thursday when dealers in Dublin expressed mild disappointment that the figures did not exceed forecasts by more. The markets are also wondering in which direction Bank of Ireland will move in search of an acquisition.

One of the day's big losers was Independent Newspapers, which was a victim of profit taking. After the price NTL was prepared to pay for Cablelink was disclosed, Independent shares rose, because the valuation of its cable subsidiary, Princes Holdings, rose. But yesterday it slipped back from #5.05 (£3.98) to #4.70 (£3.70). "Some people took the view that the market had over reacted to the Princes Holdings thing and decided to pull back a little," said one dealer.

The pain for Smurfit shareholders continued, as they dropped back from #2.45 (£1.93) to #2.37 (£1.87), while Green Property defied the days trends and rose to #5.90 (£4.65) from #5.75 (£4.53).

Irish Life and Permanent was knocked back 25 cents (20p) to #12.45 (£9.81). This was despite Belgian Bank KBC's announcement that it had bought out the remaining shareholding in Irish Intercontinental Bank and Irish Life Finance from Irish Life for £125 million (#159 million).