BRITISH shares shrugged aside their recent spate of inflation nerves, preferring instead to respond to the latest startling performance of Wall Street, which recorded its seventh straight record on Thursday and which surged again at the outset yesterday.
In the process, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has moved past 6,300 with ease. The Dow was up over 50 points not long after London closed and London dealers said European markets "have just about given up fretting about a sell-off in New York. There's no point trying to pick the top of the Street, I did that 2,000 points ago, all you're doing is giving yourself a heart attack," said the head trader at one top London securities house.
The FT-SE 100 index, after coping with a midweek wobble caused by the dismal British inflation news as well as other disturbing economic data, shot up yesterday, eventually closing the session 32.1 higher at 3,958.2.
Over the week, the FT-SE 100 has risen 47.4 points, or 1 per cent. The 250 index, meanwhile, has lost 14.3, or 9.3 per cent, while the SmallCap is marginally higher.
Senior market makers said that the main thrust behind the market's surge yesterday came from speculation that London could be on the end of a sudden burst of corporate activity from now until the general election.
