World stock markets suffered more sharp falls this evening after a fresh tumble in US share prices.
Wall Street, already hit by a profit warning from electronics retailer Best Buy, fell further after US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said he was considering extending the reach of its bail-out programme for financial institutions. The Dow Jones was down 286 points at 8,408, while the Nasdaq lost 53 to 1,528, falls of 3.3% in both cases.
Dublin's ISEQ index closed down 80 points (2.9%) at 2,731, having been ahead earlier in the day. Shares in Irish Life & Permanent were temporarily lifted by a trading update in which it said it would not need an injection of external capital. But it eventually closed down 16 cent at €1.91.
Other banks fared even worse, with AIB and Bank of Ireland both dropping more than 12% to €2.90 and €1.32 respectively.
European stock markets were also hit, with the FTSE in London closing down 65 points (1.5%) at 4,182. In Paris the CAC fell 3% to 3,234 while in Frankfurt the Dax lost 35 to finish at 4,621. Earlier, Tokyo's Nikkei index finished 1.3% lower at 8,696 as worries about plunging corporate profits and the weak global economy weighed on sentiment.
