Equity markets around the world fell again today after an overnight slide on Wall Street fuelled by a new accounting scandal.
In Dublin the ISEQ index of leading Irish shares was down 1.7 per cent by midday. The index fell 74 points to 4,384.
Selling was seen across the board in Dublin with banks being particularly badly hit. AIB fell 25 cents to €12.90. After an initial fall of 2.5 per cent, Bank of Ireland rallied to be trading at €11.27, down 3 cents. Anglo Irish Bank shed 2.4 per cent at €6.25.
Struggling pharmaceutical company Elan continued its downward slide losing another 15 per cent to €1.65.
The Dow Jones industrial average today opened 73.65 points lower, or 0.84 per cent, to 8,739.85.
US equities fell for the third day yesterday with heavy losses taking the S&P500 close to a five-year low on high volume. As the bear market intensifies, sellers have to accept lower prices in order to get out, brokers said.
US telecom company Quest Communications fell 32 per cent when it disclosed that it is being investigated by US prosecutors. This compounded the market’s worries about how pervasive the false accounting problem may be in corporate America.
The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 282.59 points, or 3.11 per cent, to 8,813.50 - its largest one-day percentage loss since September 2001. The Nasdaq sank 2.5% to 1,346.01, its lowest level since May 1997.
In London today the FTSE-100 fell back towards September's intraday lows and breaking last week's five-year closing low.
By 12.20 p.m., the FTSE was down 89 points or 2 per cent at 4,317.3, its lowest intraday level since touching 4,220 on September 21st.
"The longer this drags on the nearer we are to the bottom. People just want to get it over and done with to try and create a level to do business at," said a dealer, citing the Qwest probe as the main impetus behind the early fall.
Banks did most damage to the FTSE, taking about 25 points off the index with Lloyds TSB down 2.9 per cent and Barclays off 2.8 per cent.
In Europe the German DAX 30 index was down 47.98 points at 4,142.24 while in France the CAC-40 index was down 57.78 points at 3,598.60, after falling more than 3 per cent in opening trade to a low of 3,539.13.
In Toyko the Nikkei 225 index closed down 266.92 points, or 2.48 per cent, at 10,485.74, off a low of 10,457.07 and a high of 10,647.59.
In the longer-term, the jury remains out on whether the US and Japanese economic recoveries can survive the valuation- and accounting-led slump in equities, dealers added.