The pound has come under further selling pressure on the international markets, falling below 2.60 deutsch marks and dropping more than a penny against sterling to close just above 90p. Market opinion is now divided on whether the Irish currency has further to fall over the coming days or will now start to attract buying interest.

The pound has fallen by more than 4p sterling and by seven pfennigs against the deutschmark over the past fortnight. This followed the meeting of EU Finance Ministers which, by deciding that currency entry rates for monetary union would not be set until next year, dispelled speculation of an early move to revalue the pound's central ERM rate.

In Dublin yesterday the pound lost over a pfennig to DM2.5954 and fell to 90.26p sterling, with dealers reporting continued selling interest from overseas. Some market analysts believe that the currency would now start to find buying interest. "It should start to find support," commented Mr Oliver Mangan of AIB Capital Markets. The amount by which Irish interest rates exceed the level of other EU states should offset the risk to investors of a further fall in the pound's value.

However Mr Kevin Daly of Ulster Bank said that he believed the pound could fall further before attracting buying interest.

The pound is moving closer to the other currencies in the ERM band, ending 7.84 per cent above the weakest currency, the French franc having been as much as 12 per cent above the franc in recent months.