The recent sequence of weak and nervous performances by the London market's leading stocks came to an end yesterday with more takeover and merger news and a highly successful placing of shares in HSBC injecting some much needed confidence into the market.

Although never looking entirely at ease, the market shrugged off various bouts of selling pressure to finish around the day's best levels, additionally helped by an encouraging opening by Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 50 points shortly after trading started.

The junior indices never looked like copying the leaders' gains. The FTSE 250 hit a session best of 5,862.6 during the first hour, but lacked support for the rest of the day and eventually settled a net 6.7 up at 5,850.0.

Although ending the day only a shade off its best, the FTSE SmallCap could only manage a 3.2 gain at 2,586.4.