Irish shares join in global sell-off in face of Omicron threat       

The price of Brent crude oil shed $3 to $70.50 a barrel, a sign of fears about further lockdowns in the coming weeks across the world

Europe tightens restrictions to curb the spread of the Omicron variant after the UK suffers more than 540,000 new Covid-19 cases in a week.

A global sell-off in the face of Omicron gathered pace with a slump in European shares, including in Ireland, spreading into the US, while global oil prices slumped.  

European stock market indices fell by around 2% and the Dow Jones in the US lost 600 points, or 1.7%, at one stage, as investors focused on the potential for the Covid variant to lead to more restrictions and national lockdowns and the hit to the prospects for growth, in a "Groundhog Day" for the global economy.