THE latest hiccup on Wall Street - a 94 point fall on Thursday evening in record trading volumes predictably saw European markets take a dive. The Dublin market was no exception, falling almost one per cent and bringing the market back to the level at which it opened this week.
The larger capitalisation higher liquidity stocks suffered the brunt of the selling pressure, and AIB fell 8p to 417p - the level at which it was trading last Wednesday just before the Dauphin takeover rumours first found their way into the market. Bank of Ireland was 10p lower on 570p although Irish Permanent bucked the downward trend and added 2p to a new high of 523p.
Smurfit fell 5p to 165p as the market remained bearish towards the stock. News that former chief operating officer Mr Howard Kilroy had sold 800,000 shares at 170p failed to give the market much reassurance. CRH lost 8p to 630p, broadly in line with the downward movement in London.
Elsewhere, Greencore lost 10p to 375p, James Crean was 8p lower on 180p although Fyffes was 1 1/2p firmer on 115p ahead of next Monday's full year results.
Gilt prices followed the downward tread on international markets with the biggest losses suffered at the long end of the curve. News of a possible downgrade of Irish gilts by Moody's came as a shock to the market but once the Moody's statement was analysed, views changed with the market welcoming the implicit Moody's view that Ireland will make it into EMU.
