The ISEQ index of Irish shares slumped this morning by 100.02 points to 8729.65.
Financial heavyweights AIB and Bank of Ireland reflected this disappointing performance with AIB plummeting 35c to €19.10.
Bank of Ireland also suffered dropping 15c to €14.10. Anglo Irish Bank performed slightly better with shares falling 10c to €14.1. Irish Life and Permanent fell 9c to €18.30.
Elan Corporation felt the biggest blow as shares fell 67c to €13.85.
It was bad news all round with the construction sector also taking a hit.
CRH fell a whopping 25c to €33.85 as did Kingspan falling 25c to €18.60. McInerney was the only construction firm to see a slight gain of 4c to €2.17.
Elsewhere, Paddy Power shares fell 15c to €23.75 and Tullow Oil were also on a downward trend losing 10c and trading at €7.50.