The global slide in stock markets continued today with the Dublin market the biggest loser.
The Irish market closed down 1.4%, or 119 points, at 8,357 with just over €8.5 billion wiped off the value of Irish shares over the past week.
Around Europe markets remained jittery after yesterday's sharp sell-off, as interest rate worries and concerns that a rise in defaults on US subprime mortgage loans could spiral into a broader financial crunch stalked markets.
The FTSE 100 closed down 0.58%, in Frankfurt the DAX ended down 0.76% and in Paris the CAC-40 index closed down 0.55%.
As European markets closed, the Dow Jones was off by 0.85% at 13,359 points and the Nasdaq had fallen by 0.89% to 2,576 points.
Earlier today, the Nikkei in Toyko ended down 418 points at 17,283, the lowest close since 1 May.
On the currency markets, the dollar gained on the euro as investors turned to the greenback as a safe haven amid fears of a looming financial credit crunch.
The euro was worth €1.3636 late on Friday, down from $1.3743 in New York on Thursday.
Analysts said that investors, anxious that a credit squeeze brought on by a sharp deterioration in the key US housing market was about to materialise, were dumping shares for a second day in a row.
Analysts are concerned that the faltering US housing sector will hurt banks and finance companies enough to curb the availability of credit on which the economy feeds.
