Bank of Ireland has introduced a set of disks containing six years of financial market data.

"TrendSpotter", which is due to appear on the Internet today, contains such data as the foreign exchange rates for 660 currency pairs; short, medium and long-term interest rates; Irish equity prices; and the economic indicators from Ireland, Britain, Germany, the US and Japan.

Developed over six months by Bank of Ireland's Group Treasury and International Banking, in association with CSK Technology, it gives inflation and unemployment trends since 1992.

The Consumer Price Index, Exchequer Borrowing Requirement, and GNP indexes are also available.

Mr Colm Healy, head of corporate business at Bank of Ireland Group Treasury, said the new service would allow clients to analyse financial market trends from their desktops.

The service would be updated frequently, he said, and the Internet site would provide the most up-to-date information.

A spokeswoman added that the information had been compiled in response to ongoing data requests from customers.

The first set of disks, which has been sent out to 2,000 corporate customers, gives the daily closing prices from January 1st, 1992, to December 31st, 1997, for the ISEQ, FTSE, DAX, Dow Jones and Nikkei indices.

The new disks also provide the closing prices on individual Irish equities.

The service includes graphing and analysis functionality, enabling values to be plotted, trends compared, and the data exported to a spreadsheet.

TrendSpotter is available to businesses free by calling the TrendSpotter hotline on 1 800 607050.

Registered users will receive regular updates by disk, or may download from the Internet at www.treasury.boi.ie