World stock markets fell sharply today after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke warned Congress that the US housing slump could drag on longer than expected.
All of Europe's main stock exchanges fell sharply, with the London FTSE 100 index closing down 92 points to 6,567.10. Paris dropped by 1.7% while in Frankfurt the Dax lost 1.8%.
The ISEQ index of Irish shares fell 45 points to 9108 by the end of day's trading. One of the biggest losers was recruitment company CPL, which dropped 28c to €7.20. Anglo Irish Bank fell 18c to €14.50.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones fell 94 points to 13878, while the Nasdaq dropped 30 points to 2683. In Tokyo, the Nikkei fell 202 points to 18016 while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng fell by 215 points to 22842.
