The Irish stock market ended nearly half a percentage point lower, dragged down by a weak performance in overseas markets.
In London, the FTSE lost more than 1 per cent as telecoms and drugs stocks were battered while in New York the Dow started weakly.
"The Irish market is simply reflecting the weakness elsewhere," one dealer said. "Stocks that spiked up strongly on Tuesday are coming off the top."
AIB, which jumped 55 cents on Tuesday, lost 23 cents of this gain to close at €12.82 while Bank of Ireland shed 17 cents to finish at €10.87. Irish Life & Permanent lost six cents to €13.19.
Other leading stocks also lost ground with CRH dropping by six cents to €19.39, Smurfit losing four cents to €2.31 and Ryanair falling by 18 cents to €11.92 despite posting better-than-expected first quarter figures earlier in the week.
Eircom held steady at €1.34 although telecom shares took a pounding elsewhere. Vodafone was among those to suffer, losing 4.6 per cent of its value while British Telecom also ended weaker.
Galen shares lost three cents to €12.17 despite reporting a 134 per cent increase in third-quarter operating profits. However, dealers said the numbers had been well flagged in advance and had been largely priced in by the market.
Technology shares had a bad day with news that Datalex was to shed more than 100 jobs after it announced an 11 per cent drop in second quarter revenues. The shares fell by five cents to €1.10. Other high-tech stocks to suffer included Horizon, down six cents to €1.06, and Iona which lost 50 cents to €20.50 in Dublin.
