Any worries about a Microsoft-induced retreat by global markets faded into the background yesterday, with London's equity market bounding ahead for the fifth consecutive trading session. Fuelled by another day of big gains in many of the heavily-weighted sectors such as oils, pharmaceuticals, telecoms and banks. By the close, the FTSE 100 index had locked in a 61.2 gain at 6,435.5, extending the gain over the last five trading sessions to 183.5, or 2.9 per cent.

Turnover in equities, meanwhile, expanded rapidly, reaching 1.6 billion by the 6 p.m. count.