ALL eyes in London were fixed on Wall Street yesterday afternoon as dealers pondered the chances of yet another sell off in US shares to follow Thursday's 83 point decline.
But with the Dow Jones Industrial Average coming in only marginally easier at the start of trading, after some reassuring economic news, London stocks stabilised after an uneasy morning and ended the day showing relatively small losses.
The FTSE 100 closed 20.7 off at 3,728.3, while the second line issues were equally pressured, leaving the FTSE Mid 250 down 27.3 at 4.316.5.
Gilts gave ground from the outset, with the 10 year issue settling eight ticks lower at the close and the 20 year issue down nine ticks, slightly unsettled by the Confederation of British Industry's June survey which said retail sales were at their strongest since 1990.
Wall Street's 100 point plus slide in mid session on Thursday was caused by a profits warning issued by Hewlett Packard the computer group, and ignited fears that Wall Street's bull run had finally ended.
That warning came hard on the heels of dismal second quarter figures from Motorola, another of Wall Street's technology stocks.
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