Market Report:European markets were edgy yesterday morning as they awaited US data on jobless claims. An hour after opening, the Iseq overall index was off as much as 2.6 per cent.

With the US figures weaker than anticipated, the Iseq headed south, with the financials leading the way. That was in line with European banking stocks, but while they staged a strong rally in afternoon trading, there wasn't as strong a bounce for the Irish banks.

One trader said there was a "cautious tone" to trading in the financials. Volumes were heavy in Anglo Irish Bank ahead of today's AGM, which the market will be looking to for an update on current trading. It closed down 1.39 per cent, or 13 cent, at €9.398.

Irish Life and Permanent's outperformance of its peers over the last five days also came to a halt. It didn't recover from the morning's nervousness as strongly as its peers and was down 42 cent to €10.70 at the close.

Even though government data showed Irish housing completions in 2007 were over 78,000, slightly higher than expected, construction stocks were some of the biggest losers.

One trader said the housing data had been balanced by the news that mortgage lending had contracted again in December. CRH and Kingspan were the hardest hit.

The market reacted well to the news that Tullow Oil had sold its interest in a field in the Congo, sending the stock up 28 cent to €8.02. Drinks group C&C was the star performer, however, up 7.95 per cent, but on lower volumes than in its heyday.