Irish shares gave up further ground yesterday but suffered less than other European markets, with some signs of a recovery in certain stocks towards the close.

Although the Nasdaq and technology stocks generally remained weak, there was some evidence in the afternoon that US blue-chips were recovering from Tuesday's steep losses. But the move came too late to rescue most European markets from falls of more than 1 per cent.

However, losses in Dublin were not as sharp as those elsewhere, with the ISEQ losing 47 points or less than 1 per cent of its value.

"The Irish market under-performed in 1999. It's looking cheap, so that has protected us on the downside," one dealer said. In addition, the ISEQ is not as dependent on the hard-hit high-tech sector. The financial sector had a mixed day. Although AIB ended 22 cents lower at €10.70 (£8.43), Bank of Ireland perked up in the afternoon to finish eight cents higher at €7.85 (£6.18) while Anglo Irish Bank also closed higher, gaining three cents to end at €2.28 (£1.80). Irish Life & Permanent lost five cents to €9.25 (£7.28).

Irish industrial stocks also held up relatively well, although CRH shed 1.4 per cent of its value, or 29.5 cents, to €20.78 (£16.37).

Despite the general weakness of technology and telecommunications stocks overseas, Eircom finished unchanged at €4.15 (£3.27) while Smurfit was down a quarter of a cent at €2.93 (£2.31).

Irish technology firms listed on the Nasdaq took another beating along with other high-tech shares and, by the close of business in Dublin, Iona was down more than 5 per cent and Smartforce had lost more than 3 per cent. Trinity Biotech proved one bright spot amid the gloom, gaining more than 22 per cent in the US following news it had received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for one of its products. In Dublin, it closed 30 cents higher at €2.05 (£1.61).