Wall Street's 300-point sell-off on Tuesday sent tremors through stock markets all around the world, and Dublin proved to be no exception with share prices falling over 2 per cent and leaving the ISEQ teetering just above the 5,000 level.

While the market bounced back from its lowest level, dealers are by no means certain that the current bout of weakness is at an end and there were no signs of any sustained buying interest at the lower levels.

Even Wall Street's recovery from early losses to move into solid plus territory by the close failed to reassure the market, with many believing that the New York recovery was at best tentative.

The one exception to the downward movement was AIB, which was unchanged on £10.90, after bumper half-year profits that were well ahead of market forecasts. On a normal day, the results, and subsequent full-year upgrades, would probably have sent AIB ahead 50p.

As it was, standstill at £10.90 was a very creditable performance, given what happened to other financials. Bank of Ireland fell 40p to £13.90, Anglo Irish was 7p lower on 196p, Irish Life lost 10p to 630p and Irish Permanent was 20p lower on 890p.

CRH has been under extreme selling pressure for over a week, and that selling continued unabated yesterday with the share falling to a low of 845p before closing down 43p on the day on 857p. That contrasts with a £11.25 high earlier this year.

Most industrials were lower on the day. Golden Vale lost 4p to 106p ahead of today's interim figures. Smurfit was 2p lower on 163p, while Greencore lost 3p to 347p even though there was a positive reaction in the market to its Paramount Foods acquisition in Britain.