Footsie closes year on a quiet note

Expectations of a late burst of heavy futures-related activity and the possibility of a series of OTC (individually tailored derivatives) expiries were largely unfulfilled as the curtain came down on 1997 on Wednesday.

There was some concentrated arbitrage activity just before the close, which was brought forward to 12.10 p.m., but dealers insisted there was nothing untoward behind market moves.

The stock exchange revised the closing share prices of 11 of Britain's biggest companies as a result of misleading pricing from the new electronic trading system known as Sets.

The changes affected the values of companies so much that they more than doubled the day's change in the FTSE 100 index from an original rise of 1.5 points to a lift of 3.2 points.

But the stock exchange denied there had been any deliberate price fixing. Trading in shares was cut short by 20 minutes to prevent rogue dealers hijacking the stock market in an effort to boost their bonuses and balance their books.

The City had been worried bonus-hungry dealers would take advantage of the thin trading to change stock prices to make their performances look better.

Under the Sets system, when there is little trading, as Wednesday, a few deals in major stocks can massively alter individual share prices and the overall index.

This potentially allows dealers or fund managers to alter the market in their favour.

Among the stock exchange's array of special measures to ward off Square Mile whizz-kids is a "confidence level" system that throws out irregular closing price movements to smooth out any drastic changes to leading shares.

The safeguard, which was first used to regulate Wednesday's session, was introduced after two traders at JP Morgan recently tried to manipulate two pharmaceutical stocks.

The late flurry of business ensured, however, that the FTSE 100 ended the session only marginally higher on balance.

Earlier it had raced ahead and looked as if it would threaten the 5,200 level. The market's initial strength derived from the latest performance from Wall Street overnight where the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 123 points to recross 7,900, its second straight three-figure gain.

There were no Tokyo or Seoul markets to disturb Europe - both were closed for holidays - and Hong Kong behaved reasonably well, finishing only marginally easier on the session.

The FTSE 100 index closed the session a net 3.2 ahead at 5,135.5 having peaked at 5,182.3, up 50 points, just after the opening.

The underlying strength of the market was demonstrated by good gains in the second-liners and smallcap stocks. The FTSE Mid250 rose 19.5 to 4,787.6 and the FTSE SmallCap 5.9 to 2,313.3.

Turnover in the equity market was extremely low, only nudging over the 200 million mark during the last 30 minutes to finish at 216.6 million shares.

Over a year highlighted by the heavy buying of British stocks by US investors, plus a series of demutualisations of former building societies, the FTSE 100 rose 1,015.3, or 24.6 per cent, leaving the FTSE Mid-250 and SmallCap floundering in its wake. The former rose 297.4, or 6.6 per cent over the 12 months, slightly outperforming the SmallCap which added 129.8 or 5.9 per cent. The FTSE All-Share index gained 396.71 or 19.7 per cent to finish the year at 2,013.66.