It was another bad day for the Irish market yesterday as a 2.8 per cent drop in the Iseq index of Irish shares brought the amount lost so far this week to more than €7.2 billion. Yesterday, as much as €3.3 billion was wiped off the index's value, with the financials and construction stocks again leading the way downwards.

Bank of Ireland was the worst hit among the banks, dropping 3.9 per cent, or 55 cent, to end the day at €13.57, though AIB wasn't far behind, falling 3.4 per cent, or 35 cent, to close at €18.24.

Dealers said that, in addition to the general negative sentiment being seen in the global markets, AIB was suffering as a result of speculation that it is about to fall out of the EuroStoxx index. This would mean some European funds would no longer be able to include the Irish bank in their portfolios. Irish Life & Permanent closed down 3.9 per cent, at €17.60, while Anglo Irish, which held up better than the rest of the financials, closed 2.8 per cent, or 40 cent, lower at €13.88.

Independent News & Media (IN&M) continued its negative run, dropping a further 3.7 per cent, to end the day at €3. With as many as 5.3 million shares changing hands, dealers said it was likely the company had again taken advantage of the falling share price to continue its buyback programme. Yesterday IN&M announced it had spent at least €2.2 million buying back 711,600 shares on Wednesday.

Ryanair was also believed to be in the market, buying its own shares. As many as 12 million units changed hands as the stock slipped 1.5 per cent, to €4.88.

Fyffes had another bad day, closing down 4.8 per cent, while Blackrock dropped 8 per cent.