Iseq: 2,120.33 (-18.50) at 1.30 pm:The Iseq index of leading shares followed other European markets in losing ground.
European shares slipped by midday on Wednesday as a recent rally in financials on the back of a US plan to purge toxic assets from banks' balance sheets lost steam
On the Dublin market banks led the downward slide with AIB losing 9c to €0.63, Bank of Ireland declining by 9c to €0.49 and Irish Life & Permanent falling by 15c to €1.15.
Among construction shares, CRH gained 40c to €16.35 while house builder McInerney was flat at €0.09.
Exploration firm Glencar, which today announced that it has signed a letter of intent with gold producer Gold Fields that will see the compnay receive up to €40 million in funding, rose 1c to €0.05 while Tullow which announced it had found more oil in Ghana, was flat at €8.71.
Mobile data service provider Zamano, which reported pre-tax losses of €3.622 million for 2008 this morning was also flat at €0.16.
At 12.03pm the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was 0.7 per cent lower at 735.76 points after rising in the previous four sessions on more bad news.
Figures released today showed that German corporate sentiment deteriorated in March to its lowest level since reunification in 1990, while Italian consumer morale fell a lot more than expected in March.
Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 were down 0.6-1 per cent.
