DAY which began with gentle swings in both directions ended with British shares sharply higher across a broad front as the market responded to much weaker-than-expected US retail sales.
The retail sales figures were seen as reducing the chances of the US Federal Reserve increasing interest rates when its monetary policy committee meets on July 2nd.
That news transformed a British equity market that had shown distinct signs of running out of steam earlier in the day.
The FTSE-100 index finished at a record closing high of 4,757.4, up 32.6, having come within a whisker of equalling its previous intra-day record of 4,759.3 reached on Wednesday.
Although the leaders picked up strongly after the opening of Wall Street, they had earlier been out-paced by the market's second liners, which captured the limelight in response to a batch of impressive company results.
Those outstanding gains drove the FTSE Mid-250, which had left Footsie in its tracks, up 38.3 to 4,545.2. The FTSE SmallCap meanwhile, rose 2.6 to 2,283.7.
While the second liners were racing away from the outset, the leaders were being stifled by a buyers' strike, caused primarily by worries about last night's speech given by the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Gordon Brown at the Mansion House.
