European shares closed slightly down on Monday, as weak US housing data put further pressure on a market already cautious on the back of underperforming banks and geo-political concerns over Iran.
Carmakers were led lower by Volkswagen, which lost 3.2% after Porsche said it planned to offer the legal minimum to VW shareholders in a technically obligatory takeover offer after raising its voting stake in Volkswagen.
But the broader market focused on the US data, which showed that sales of new homes unexpectedly fell 3.9% in February to the lowest rate in nearly seven years.
This led to fears of weakness in the housing sector, a key engine of US economic growth.
Around Europe, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 both closed down 1% percent while Britain's FTSE ended 0.8% lower.
In Dublin, the ISEQ fell 64 points to 9,448 with losses in the bigger stocks.
Mobile services company Zamano up one cent to 44 cent after reporting a 71% increase in 2006 pre-tax profits.
As Europe markets closed, US also shares fell heavily after the government report on housing.
The Dow Jones was trading down 91 points (0.73%) at 12,389 and the Nasdaq had fallen 14 points (0.58%) to 2,434.
Earlier, Tokyo's Nikkei-225 index rose 41 points or 0.2% to 17,522, its fifth straight gain.
