The Dublin sunshine did little to lift the mood on the Iseq today, with one dealer summing up the day as “grim”.
The index closed the day at 2882.12, down more than 3 per cent.
The biggest offender throughout the session was Bank of Ireland, which fell as much as 14 per cent in the wake of yesterday's shareholder approval for its fund-raising plans.
The ordinary stock closed at 76.5 cent today, while the nil-paids, which had a theoretical value of 34 cent ended the session at 22 cent. Volume in the ordinary shares reached 100 million between the two markets, with further volatility expected over coming weeks.
AIB was also punished, closing close to 9 per cent, or 114.5 cent weaker at €1.045. Irish Life & Permanent suffered too, falling by 9.1 cent to €2.184.
The trend was overwhelmingly negative elsewhere, with market heavyweight CRH helping to drag things down. Shares fell by 54.2 cent to €17.60.
Stocks in related sectors were also in the red. Kingspan ended the session 36 cent weaker at €6.55, while Grafton closed 20 cent down at €2.85.
C&C was another big loser, declining by 10.8 cent to ¤3.20 as the gloom spread. Greencore shed 4.2 cent to close at €1.218.
Ryanair was the shining light on the day, having come under pressure before staging a rally in advance of the market close. Shares in the airline climbed by 0.19 per cent to €3.20.
Total Produce was one of the few newsmakers meanwhile, confirming its previous guidance in a statement to its annual general meeting. Investors failed to take comfort and the shares fell by 1 cent to 36 cent amid the general gloom.
Smurfit was another loser despite some positive news on pricing in Mexico. The paper and packaging group dropped by 40 cent to €6.44.