Market Report: Another €1.6 billion was wiped off the value of the Irish stock market yesterday, bringing the losses so far this week to almost €8 billion, writes  Claire Shoesmith.

The Iseq Index of Irish shares actually started out in positive territory early in the day before plummeting around lunchtime as the US markets opened up lower. The index closed down 1.4 per cent, at 9,274.

Positive news from building materials group Grafton and oil exploration company Tullow failed to excite investors buried in the overseas sentiment.

Shares in Grafton rose as high as €12.20 before falling back to close down 12 cent, or 1 per cent, at €11.80. The company said pretax profits increased 20 per cent last year, to €249.4 million, while sales were 12 per cent ahead, at €2.9 billion.

Tullow shares also suffered through no fault of their own, falling from their daily high of €5.71, to close down 3 cent, at €5.43. Volume in Dublin, however, was light. This wasn't the case as far as the financials were concerned. Anglo was very much in demand with 11.7 million shares changing hands. The stock closed down 35 cent, or 2.2 per cent, at €15.75.

Bank of Ireland, meanwhile, lost 55 cent, or 3.2 per cent, to end the day at €16.70, while AIB was down 60 cent, or 2.7 per cent, at €21.65.

Irish Life dropped 42 cent, or 2 per cent, to close at €21.

Elsewhere some of the second liners held up better, something one dealer said he was surprised to see given the battering they took in the middle of last year when the market last took a turn for the worse.

C&C recovered slightly, closing up 4 cent, at €10.54, with 12.8 million shares trading. Kingspan and Kerry were also gainers, closing up 26 and 14 cent respectively at €20.86 and €20.14.