Computers at banks and other financial services companies could be disrupted if the Dow Jones Industrial Average tops 10,000, warn industry analysts.

Much of the software written for financial organisations that trade and track the US blue-chip index can deal only with four-digit Dow figures. It was not designed to cope with the extended bull market on Wall Street or the growth of computerised trading, said Gartner Group, the computer consultants.

Many banks and financial services companies are already struggling to cope with the year 2000 problem, which threatens to disrupt computers at the end of next year because they will not recognise the date correctly.

When the Dow moves into five digits, some systems will misinterpret the 10,000 figure.

"Trading organisations face potential massive exposure if the DJIA passes 10,000 and their systems interpret it as 1,000 or 0,000," says Mr Andy Kyte, the Gartner Group consultant who has highlighted the risk."