European stock markets edged higher this evening, but sharp falls in bank shares after the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank led the Dublin market lower.
The ISEQ index closed down 24 points (1%) at 2,456. AIB slumped 25% to close at €1.45, Bank of Ireland dropped almost 17% to 75 cent and Irish Life and Permanent lost 2% to €2.20. Shares in C&C were also lower, down 8% to €1.12, after it said the weak performance of the last three months was expected to continue in January and February.
In London, the FTSE gained 26 points to close at 4,147, but bank shares dropped, with Barclays losing almost 25% to 98p and Royal Bank of Scotland down 13% to just under 35p. In Paris the CAC rose 0.7% to finish at 3,017 while in Frankfurt the Dax also added 0.7% to end the week at 4,366.
On Wall Street, markets initially rose after a US government rescue injection of $20 billion into Bank of America, but they later turned negative as the move sparked renewed fears about the financial sector. The Dow Jones was 10 points lower at 8,203 and the Nasdaq fell five to 1,507.
Earlier Tokyo's Nikkei index jumped 2.58% to 8,230 by the close, bouncing back from the previous day's near six-week low.
