Shares in British banks were broadly down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading following on from Friday's downgrade of Ireland's credit rating.

On Friday ratings agency Moody's downgraded Ireland's credit rating five notches from Aa2 to Baa1. Moody's added that the country could face further downgrades if it failed to get its debt under control.

By 10:50 shares in Lloyds Banking Group were down 0.77 per cent to 65.99 pence per share, Barclays shares declined 0.36 per cent to 258.80 pence per share and HSBC shares fell 0.11 per cent to 654.80 pence per share.

However RBS saw its shares increase 1.32 per cent to 38.32 pence per share.

Overall the FTSE 100 was up 0.18 per cent to 5,882.15.

Barclays HSBC FTSE