A subdued day on the Iseq index was marked by sluggish Easter holiday trading and little local newsflow to influence proceedings.
The overall index fell 3 per cent today, as negative noises emerged from the US, swaying market sentiment.
Comments by the head of retail giant Wal-Mart that he saw no quick end to the recession as well as a statement from computer chip-maker Intel that there was too much uncertainty for the company to give a clear revenue forecast dragged markets down.
This was compounded by a worse-than-expected shrinking in US industrial output and the biggest fall in Germany's wholesale prices in 22 years.
A Dublin-based equities dealer noted that the "wind was taken out of the sails" of the Irish market, with the banking stocks giving up some of the gains made in recent days.
AIB closed down 7.7 per cent at 96 cent, while Bank of Ireland dropped 7 per cent to finish at 80 cent. Irish Life & Permanent, too, was weak, falling 3.7 per cent to ¤2.07.
The banks attracted reasonable volume on what was a relatively quiet day due to the Easter holiday period.
A slide in the largest component of the Iseq, building materials group CRH, was in the main responsible for the Iseq's negative finish. Although there was no major construction sector news, CRH fell 3.65 per cent to ¤16.38, shedding 62 cent on modest volume.
Food group Aryzta was the biggest faller of the day, sinking 11 per cent after Credit Suisse announced it was holding an accelerated sale of the 5 per cent stake in Aryzta held by leveraged buyout group Lion Capital.
Elsewhere among the major stocks, Elan made gains, but Ryanair finished down 3.7 per cent at ¤3.03, again on low volume.
