The Iseq index fell over 1 per cent this morning, wiping almost €1 billion off its value as renewed fears about the full impact of the sub-prime crisis on the US economy continued to weigh.
Unsurprisingly all the main financial stocks were down on early trade with the only difference being their degree of fall. At 12.15pm AIB shares were off 33 cents at €16.37; Bank of Ireland was down considerably less, off 15 cents to €12 while Irish Life and Permanent shares were down over 60 cents to €14.3.
The downward impetus follows a move by several overseas brokers to downgrade Citigroup due to its significant writedowns connected to problems in the credit markets.
CRH, which is heavily exposed to the US market was also down today, with its shares off 24 cents at €25.32.
Good news was thin on the ground and what little upside exists was provided by FBD and Paddy Powers, which saw its shares up 9 cents to €28.1.