Growing fears of world recession haunt global markets; Bank of Ireland shares slide 6%

Fears of a world recession came back to haunt global markets, prompting some investors to buy gold and safe but extremely low-yielding government bonds.

Analysts focussed on a large overnight interest rate cut by the New Zealand central bank and by the latest industrial output figures in Germany, which appeared to suggest Europe's largest economy was hit hard in June by the US-China trade battles.