Dublin report: Anybody who left work an hour early yesterday could be forgiven for telling completely the wrong story about the Irish market.

At one point the Iseq index was up as much as 2.4 per cent, with the financials continuing Tuesday's gains and leading the way upwards. However, with just over an hour's trading to go, sentiment turned and stocks across all sectors started to give up their gains on the back of significant declines on Wall Street.

The reason behind the fall was the substantial loss reported by Merrill Lynch - its first in almost six years - thanks to the impact of the recent credit crunch and sub-prime problems on its business.

As usual, the Irish market was unable to escape the onslaught and while the Iseq managed to end the day down only marginally, some of its members fared less well.

Irish Life and Permanent, at one point up more than 5 per cent, fell back to close down 1.2 per cent, or 18 cent, at €15.50.

Anglo gave up its 4 per cent gain to close down 1.4 per cent, or 17 cent, at €12.03, while AIB ended the day down 1.2 per cent, or 20 cent, at €16.50 after earlier trading as high as €17.15.

Bank of Ireland fared slightly better, losing just 0.3 per cent, or 3 cent, to close at €11.9.

Elsewhere, dealers reported significant selling activity in Waterford Wedgwood, which lost more than 14 per cent, to close at 2 cent on more than 60 million trades.

CRH, meanwhile, managed to hold some ground, ending the day up 1.4 per cent, or 36 cent, at €26.31 despite the US accounting for about half of its profits.

Independent News and Media was again under pressure, falling 1.9 per cent, or 5 cent, to €2.59. The company said it had spent at least €388,500 buying back another 150,000 of its own shares.

Settlement day: October 29th