There was widespread relief in London's equity market that the past week did not bring a re-run of the big market slide of 1987, the anniversary of which fell on Tuesday.
Some benign inflation data from the US, a big rally on Wall Street - despite a profit warning from IBM - and a near £22 billion sterling agreed bid for Orange, the cellular phones group, came to the market's rescue.
And that trend continued yesterday with the FTSE 100, London's benchmark index, moving clear of the 6,000 to finish a net 119.6 higher at 6,058.9. It was responding to the latest steep rise on Wall Street - where the Dow Jones Industrial Average shot up over 150 points early in the US trading session - and as more takeover stories circulated in the London market. That gain in the FTSE left the index 151.6, or 2.6 per cent, ahead on the week.
Although lagging behind the 100 index, the junior FTSE indices also made progress on the session, the 250 closing 14.8 firmer at 5,526.8 and the SmallCap index 6.2 to the good at 2,614.1. Both finished lower over the five-day period, however, the former down 64.1, and the latter off 15.48.
Turnover was 1.2 billion shares.
