THE slump on international bond markets meant that yield sensitive financial stocks felt the brunt of the selling pressure on the Irish market, with the two main banks in particular falling sharply.

Whether this fall in equity and bond market signals an end to the early year bull market at home and abroad remains to be seen, but there is a view in some quarters that the rise in the market in the first five weeks of 1996 has been overdone.

At levels of over 2330, at one stage the ISEQ was not all that far off what some analysts were forecasting for end 1996, so a correction might not be overdue. Financial shares fell the best part of 2 per cent as bond prices plummeted. Bank of Ireland the star share of 1995 was the worst affected and closed down 11p on 442p, while AIB fell 8p to 345p. Other financials were less seriously affected, with Irish Life down 3p on 253p, while Irish Permanent was unchanged on 400p.

There was little change among the industrials, with Smurfit down just lp on 151p, while CRH lost 2p to 495p. So Greencore powered ahead to another new high with a 5p jump to 555p, while Kerry also remained in demand but was unchanged on its high of 551p. Jones traded for the first time since last week's profits warning and promptly dropped 25p to 175p.

Fyffes dropped 3 to 15p, IAWS was 2p lower on 142p, while Silvermines jumped 9p to 77p. Ivernia was unchanged on 71p as AIB Investment Managers disclosed that its stake in the mining group has risen from 7.3 per cent to almost 9 per cent since last July.

Gilt prices fell heavily as overseas bonds tumbled and 10 year gilts closed almost a point lower on a yield of 7.38 per cent while five year gilts closed on a yield of 6.59 per cent.