FTSE 100 struggles but Techmark 100 surges

At the close of another uncertain session, the FTSE 100 was left a fraction lower on a day which promised much but delivered little. The same was true of the performance of the index over the week.

Yesterday the 100 index moved in a 50-point arc, sliding 23.5 to 6,452.2 at its worst during early morning and moving up 27.5 to 6,503.2 at its best, immediately following important US economic news.

Producer prices, retail sales, industrial production and capacity utilisation details were all initially viewed as market friendly, although sentiment tended to change later on.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average followed Thursday's almost neutral performance - it rose five points with an indecisive showing. It kicked off the session in good heart, and rose 26 points in minutes, before stalling and dropping back to post a 35-point decline within the hour. As London closed the Dow was a fraction easier.

The Nasdaq Composite, on the other hand, extended its strong overnight gains, which saw the index up 75 points. It was up around 40 points at the London close and those two performances helped London's Techmark 100 outpace all the other main UK indices.

The 100 index finished a net 0.3 off at 6,475.4 but was the only one to lose ground during the session.

The Techmark 100 climbed 122.2, or 3.5 per cent, as institutions embarked on a round of rotation from "old" to "new" economy stocks, helped by the Nasdaq's decisive move above the 4,000 level.

The FTSE 250 was not far behind, racing up 66.8, or 1 per cent, to 6,741.8. The FTSE SmallCap was up 10.0 at 3,389.0.

Over the week the Techmark 100 showed a gain of 3.6 per cent, compared with a 1.7 per cent rise in the 250 and a 0.5 per cent improvement in the SmallCap.

The FTSE 100, on the other hand, trailed well behind the rest, with a decline of 22.1, or 0.3 per cent. The heavyweight stocks, especially the pharmaceuticals and oil majors, dragged the leading index lower.

So did Carlton Communications, whose shares were the worst performers in the index, after news that Mr Stephen Byers, the Trade and Industry Secretary, had given the green light to the proposed consolidation of the UK television sector.

Carlton was seen as lagging behind Granada in the potential restructuring involving those two companies and United News and Media.