ALTHOUGH the expected heavy selling on Wall Street failed to happen, share prices in Dublin struggled to recover any significant ground in the afternoon session and the market closed down over 1 per cent on the day. Losses were spread widely but, not surprisingly, concentrated on the leaders once again, although turnover was insignificant.

The one consolation was that most of the leaders were drawing bids at the close, but the direction of the market today will depend on the reaction to Wall Street where the Dow Jones eventually ended on 5,354.69, up 8.14.

CRH lost 6p to close on 564p, almost a pound lower than its all time high of a couple of months ago. There was some heavy trading in the stock in London where 1.8 million shares dealt and the share closed down 4p on 589p sterling.

Smurfit was another to deal in size in London with 1.7 million shares trading and closed down 3p on 165p sterling while closing down 7p on 155p in Dublin.

Financials also lost ground with AIB 4p lower on 317p, Bank of Ireland down 4p on 410p and Irish Permanent down 5p on 385p, while Irish Life continues to slide, losing another 4p to 223p.

Second liners were very thin but Kingspan lost 8p to 350p.

Gilts were firmer in line with overseas markets, with a generally positive mood in the markets ahead of today's Bundesbank council meeting. Dealers are expecting a 10 basis point cut at least in the repo rate and this has already been priced into bond prices.