Most world markets were lower this evening after a day of volatile trading, in which the rally sparked by the Federal Reserve's rate cut on Tuesday night fizzled out.
Energy and mining shares dragged New York and London lower, as oil priced dived by more than $4 a barrel, though US banking shares were higher on better than expected results from Morgan Stanley and news that a regulator of two major US home finance companies had eased their capital requirements to pump money into the stressed mortgage market. This evening, the Dow Jones was down 60 points to 12,333 while the Nasdaq fell 12 to 2,256.
In London, the FTSE closed down 60 points, or 1%, at 5,546. The big mining stocks were up to 6% lower, while HBOS dropped 7% to 446p after it was forced to deny market speculation that the group was facing serious liquidity problems. In Paris, the CAC fell 0.6% to 4,556 while in Frankfurt the Dax lost 0.5% to end at 6,361.
In Dublin, the ISEQ also closed down 58 points, or 1%, at 5,840. Construction shares were weak, with CRH down 3% at €23.95 in late trading. Airline stocks were lower after UK budget airline Easyjet said that its profits would be hurt if its fuel costs continued to rise. Shares in Ryanair slumped 22 cent to €2.55. Meanwhile Anglo Irish Bank lost another 25 cent to €6.65.
Asian stocks had soared this morning after a big bounce on Wall Street on Tuesday night. Tokyo's Nikkei rose 296 points, or 2.5%, to 12,260.
