Wall Street's inability to capitalise on the comparatively positive overnight performance in the Far East was the main factor behind the 2 per cent loss on the Irish market. But volumes were low with buyers staying out of the market despite the view in some circles that it is looking cheap. The absence of a lead from the closed London market was another factor, while contrasting fortunes on the main Continental markets provided no clear indicator.

Most of the leaders closed down while some second-liners, which missed out on the recent weakness, suffered as they were marked down sharply. And the 4 per cent early fall in the main NASDAQ index was fully reflected in the performance of Irish stocks on the automated New York market, where CBT, Iona, Esat and Elan all fell sharply.

The $5 fall by Elan to $60 in early trading, a fall of almost 8 per cent, was one of the main reasons for the 2 per cent fall in the ISEQ as the pharmaceutical group makes up 11 per cent of the index.

Others to bear the brunt of the sell-off of techie stocks were CBT, down almost 8 per cent or over $4 to $47 5/8; Iona, down nearly 10 per cent to $22 and Esat, down a whopping $7 by the Dublin close to $22, a fall of over 24 per cent. CBT's high for the year was $63 7/8, Iona was $40 1/4 and Esat $44 1/4.

In Dublin, financials fared worst, with AIB down 15p to 965p, Bank of Ireland down 35p to £10.80 and Anglo Irish down 7p to 163p, although Irish Life and Irish Permanent were relatively unscathed.

Kerry's results went down well and will result in full-year upgradings, but the weakness meant that the share was unchanged on 800p. CRH was unchanged on 765p ahead of today's results, while of those reporting interims tomorrow, Avonmore Waterford was down 20p on 240p, Smurfit was up 5p on 135p and Waterford Wedgwood was up 5p on 65p.

The London markets were closed yesterday for the August bank holiday in Britain