Once again, events on international markets dictated the direction on the Irish market, and share prices of the leading stocks fell sharply as Wall Street opened well down on Thursday's closing levels.

The continued uncertainty over the Asian tiger economies and over US interest rates after the latest non-farm payroll figures will be the dominant influences on the market over the next few days. But many institutions are likely to remain on the sidelines until they see what action, if any, the Fed takes on interest rates next week.

The more liquid stocks - mainly the leading financials and industrials - took the worst of the negative sentiment, with Bank of Ireland down 18p to 860p and AIB was down 13p on 562p.

With Wall Street falling 2 per cent at the opening, Smurfit fell sharply and in Dublin closed down 6p on 183p.

James Crean was unchanged on 125p despite a distinctly negative research note from NCB while Elan was also weaker in New York, where most of the group's shares are traded. Elan is understood to have raised $110 million in a new convertible note issue - leading to speculation that it is lining up a large acquisition.

Greencore was 5p lower on 303p, Kingspan lost 75p to 1125p, while Tullow lost 6 1/2p to 131p.

There is some vague speculation that Cairn Energy may be lining up a bid for Tullow, but that speculation has so far failed to have much impact on the share price.