Economic outlook weakens markets

THE Irish market followed the falls in Europe yesterday as concerns about the global economic outlook upstaged the coalition success in Iraq.

The ISEQ index fell 39.18 points to 4022.50.

Bank of Ireland, which has an exposure to the British mortgage market fell 1.76% to 10.02. It was announced in Wednesday’s budget that Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown has commissioned an investigation into mortgage lending in Britain.