Bank of Ireland shares fell to their lowest level this year yesterday, breaching #6 (£4.73) as the stock remained out of favour with investors.

The shares lost 23 cents, or nearly 4 per cent of their value, on top of Thursday's 10 cent fall, to close at #5.77, a level not seen since 1997. Earlier in the day, they had briefly touched a low of #5.65.

Worries about rising interest rates, shrinking margins, increased competition from overseas providers and the threat of the Internet as a distribution channel have combined to take their toll on banking shares.

Irish financial shares again failed to make progress yesterday, losing 1.8 per cent of their value, despite a strong performance on Wall Street following US jobs data.