Late rally allows City to regain composure

There were further worrying signs for investors for much of yesterday that Monday's sharp rally in London's equity market might have been a one-off. A strong opening, prompted by a good recovery on Wall Street overnight, quickly ran out of steam, alarming market bulls who had been expecting the leaders to run ahead after Tuesday's profit-taking.

But a late rally in a handful of the FTSE 100's real heavyweights, notably BP Amoco, Shell and Vodafone AirTouch, helped generate late momentum which left the FTSE 100 index marginally higher. The three heavyweight stocks were effectively responsible for putting 26 points on Footsie. After a session of substantial swings in both directions the FTSE 100 perked up to finish 13.4 ahead at 6,020.6. The FTSE 250 closed 2.5 easier at 5,670.4. The FTSE SmallCap was much more subdued, the index nudging ahead to 2,683.4, up 2.3, before subsiding and eventually closing 1.5 down at 2,679.6.

Turnover in equities was a disappointing 902 million shares by the 6 p.m. count, of which slightly more than half was in Footsie stocks.