Late flurry helps Footsie regain poise

London's equity market recovered some of its lost poise after a faltering start yesterday, surviving an early bout of weakness and thereafter building steadily to end the session on a firm note.

And there was a sparkling finish to the day as the FTSE 100 index moved in to the post-market auction showing a 49 points gain, only to see that rise more than doubled during a frantic few minutes as the day's unfinished trades were rushed through the markets.

The index was finally 103.3 higher at 5,729.2, bringing an end to the three-day sell-off which saw Footsie slide 377.3, or 6.3 per cent. And it was not just the benchmark index, the FTSE 100, that pushed ahead; all the main indices clawed back some of the heavy losses recorded over the previous three sessions.

The question remains, however, whether the market can sustain its rally. Marketmakers said the semi-panic that hit London on Wednesday, when all sorts of confidence-denting rumours swept across the City, had thoroughly unnerved investors and that an upturn would probably induce sellers back into the market in the short term.

This morning brings with it the dual-expiry of the March Footsie future and index options, which should ensure plenty of fireworks in mid-morning.

Yesterday's strong showing was all the more impressive in that it came in the wake of a weak finish to the US session on Wednesday when the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 317 points lower closing below the 10,000 level and the Nasdaq dipped 42 points.

Yesterday saw the Dow re-cross 10,000 and post a 50 points gain and the Nasdaq move up 36 points, helping to fuel London's late push, as US markets continued to hope for an interest rate cut of at least 50 basis points after next Tuesday's meeting of the Federal Reserve's open market committee.

The day's domestic economic news brought a surprisingly strong 0.6 per cent increase in retail sales for February, which compared with a consensus forecast of plus 0.2 per cent.

That news disappointed some of those hoping for a cut in UK interest rates after the April 4th/5th meeting of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee.