A wildly volatile day on international stock markets was mirrored in Dublin where there were winners and losers and some late rallies. Against the trend on European markets, Dublin closed down over 2 per cent on the day, pulled back by a sharp fall in Elan which took a battering in the US with investors favouring the larger pharmaceuticals. In Dublin, Elan closed €2.70 down at €54.50 .

Trading volumes were relatively light at the start, with shares opening offered on nervousness ahead of the resumption of business on Wall Street after four consecutive days closed. Among the financials, AIB hit a low of €10.40 before bebounding to close 10 cents ahead at €11.10. Bank of Ireland hit a low of €8.90 before closing 17 cents down at €9.08. Irish Life and Permanent dropped 31 cents on the day to close at €11.84, though it was off its day low of €11.60. Dealers said the financials were all bid at the closing levels.

Among the winners, Ryanair, which was heavily sold last week, gained 70 cents to close at €8.30 as US investors bought into the stock. CRH was down 58 cents to close at €15.85 reflecting what dealers said was some concern that federal funds in the US could be diverted from road building towards "the war effort".

News of the rate cut by the Fed boosted markets around midday while the surprise ECB cut announced later in the afternoon came just after European markets closed. While the ECB move came too late to have any impact, dealers said it should help to steady markets today. The lower than expected falls on Wall Street helped market nerves throughout Europe with dealers commenting that a fall of just 5-6 per cent fall on the day in the US would be good for European markets. However, most dealers cautioned that it was early days yet for assessing where markets will go from here.