The Dublin market endured another day of turmoil as the Iseq index of Irish shares plunged by more than 5 per cent at one stage.
A $9 fall in the price of oil in the afternoon offered a little respite to the market as Ryanair bounced substantially, closing the day nearly 4 per cent stronger at €2.75.
Nevertheless, the market still finished some 3.2 per cent weaker at it shed 144.49 points to 4,354.62.
Yet again, the Iseq took its lead from what was happening elsewhere. "The market is just being pushed around by what is happening in international markets," said one dealer.
With US financial stocks weak from overnight trading, Irish bank stocks were under pressure from the outset in line with other European markets.
AIB was hit particularly hard following a downgrading by credit rating agency Fitch. At mid-day its shares had plunged by more than 10 per cent before a minor recovery saw it end the day 6.58 per cent weaker at €7.10.
Anglo Irish Bank opened up on the back of an announcement by the Quinn family that they had swapped their short-term CFD holdings in the bank for a 15 per cent ordinary share stake, but it soon got sucked into the maelstrom of the bank sell-off. It was 6.53 per cent weaker, losing 28.5 cents to €4.08.
Bank of Ireland also saw more than 6 per cent wiped off the value of its shares by the close of business as it dropped 30 cents to €4.82.
Construction stocks fared little better. Market heavyweight CRH was lost 51 cents to €14.89, while Kingspan slipped back 13 cents to €5.50. Grafton closed the day nearly 6 per cent weaker at €2.67.
European stocks tumbled, sending the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index to a three-year low, as investors speculated credit-market losses will widen and German investor confidence fell to a level not seen in 16 years.
National indices declined in all 18 western European markets. The FTSE 100 retreated 2.2 per cent, while Germany's DAX lost 1.6 per cent. France's CAC 40 slipped 1.4 per cent.