Turmoil has continued on international markets in the third consecutive day of sharp falls in share prices.
Shares on Wall Street dropped sharply as trading opened, but in the last few hours prices have recovered.
The volatility has spread to the currency markets and caused a rapid surge in the Japanese yen. In Tokyo, the Nikkei-225 closed down 0.9%.
In Dublin, €8bn has been wiped off Irish shares so far this week. Shares on the Irish stock exchange were down 1.4% today.
Stocks closed almost 1% down in London, while in Paris and Frankfurt shares fell more than 1%.
Chinese share prices had closed with a fall of 2.9% this morning as jittery investors sold shares after the biggest one-day decline in a decade earlier in the week.
