Bank shares downgraded

SHARES in Ireland’s two biggest companies — AIB Bank and Bank of Ireland — worth more that €20 billion were downgraded yesterday by Morgan Stanley.

Shares in the two companies which make up almost 42% of the entire value of all Irish shares fell sharply last week after the market reacted poorly to “noisy” end-of-year results from AIB which were broadly in line with market expectations.

Yesterday, Morgan Stanley, a global financial services firm and a market leader in securities, downgraded Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland to “underweight” from “equal weight”.