LISBON: Portuguese authorities sought to allay market fears over the health of the country’s biggest bank Banco Espirito Santo, which has seen its shares plummet over its parent company’s debt woes.

“There is no reason to doubt the security of the funds entrusted to the BES, and its savers have no need to be worried,” Portugal’s central bank said in a statement.

Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho said: “There is no reason for the state to intervene in a bank which has solid capital and which has a comfortable margin to deal with any eventuality, even the most adverse.”

Lisbon stock market regulators suspended trading in BES shares on Thursday after they plunged by more than 17 percent. When the ban was lifted around midday on Friday, the shares gained 2.36 percent to 0.50 euros. The overall Portuguese market was 0.92 percent higher meanwhile, after losing four percent on Thursday.