Expanded coverage of euro markets

From today The Irish Times coverage of the financial markets expands to a full page, to allow for changes brought about by the introduction of the euro. The main changes are:

The introduction of a table showing the irrevocable fixed exchange rates for all the euro member currencies against the euro. This table also shows estimated exchange rates for each of the euro currencies against each other currency, although these should only be used as guidelines. The table was supplied by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the exchange rates published for the pound against other currencies are the same as those issued by the Irish Bankers' Federation.

The Irish Stock Exchange prices are now being quoted in euros. As a guide to readers, we are also providing translation into pounds, but it should be remembered that the euro quote is the official one and all deals on the market will be done in the new currency, even though stockbrokers will still accept payments in pounds.

We are now quoting euro exchange rates against all the other main world currencies. In a separate table, guideline exchange rates are provided for the pound against other currencies

Because investors can now put money into other euro-zone markets without facing any currency risk, we will quote each day 100 of the main European shares, quoted in euros.

Government stock prices are provided in euros and pounds - again the main quote is euros. - The quoted interbank rates are now those on the euro-zone wide interbank market.