Investors flee as carnage spreads here

Dublin was not spared the carnage that spread from Asian markets through to Europe yesterday, but it outperformed bigger peers like London and Frankfurt in that it fell by just over 4 per cent, while the others lost over 5 per cent.

Like the rest of the world, investors fled Irish stocks as fears of global recession spread from the east. "It started overnight in Asia and then hit Europe and followed on into Ireland," one dealer said. "We opened up off this morning and the market is down 4 per cent."

The financials bore the brunt of the collapse. AIB plunged 75 cent to €14.15, losing over 5 per cent of its value following bouts of heavy selling that saw 4.2 million shares traded in Dublin.

Anglo Irish Bank dropped 51.1 cents to €8.65, shedding 5.6 per cent of its value as investors sold 4.3 million shares. Bank of Ireland fared slightly better, losing just 4 per cent of its value and closing 36.9 cents off at €8.95.

Dublin volumes were well above the norm, though, with investors getting rid of close to six million shares. Traders pointed to the high volumes as evidence that investors were getting out of equities.

Other major stocks to suffer included building materials giant CRH, which shed 98 cents to close at €22.80, a fall of 4.12 per cent. One of its rivals, Wolseley, published trading statement warning that profits for the five months to the end of December would be down 25 per cent.

Drinks group C&C was one of the few shares to make any ground yesterday, up 1.1 cents to €4.241, a gain of 0.26 per cent.

Stockbrokers Davy published a research note citing figures from AC Nielsen saying the company's share of cider sales to British pubs fell to 18.1 per cent in November from 19.7 per cent in September.