BRITISH stocks made further rapid progress yesterday, with the FT-SE 100 index powering through 4,300 for the first time and shrugging aside an initial strong showing by sterling.
The market preferred to respond to a fresh and powerful flurry of takeover speculation in the financial sectors and to positive economic news from the US.
Sentiment in London was boosted by Wall Street's good closing performance on Thursday, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 26 points ahead, and a strong opening yesterday.
The US non-farm payroll report for January was accompanied by benign wages and hours worked details. These saw the Dow up around 90 points shortly after the opening, before it reacted to profit-taking.
Bonds on both sides of the Atlantic were sharply higher following the news. British gilts were up a point and more, as were US Treasury bonds.
Over the week in which British and US interest rates were left unchanged by monetary policy makers, Footsie rose 32 points, the 250 fell 3.3 and the SmallCap gained 16.5.
Concerns about the strong run by sterling during the week, which took the currency to its highest trade-weighted level since September 1992, tended to dissipate during the afternoon when the pound dipped against the dollar and the deutschmark.
Strategists continue to fret, however, about the potential for more profit warnings from big exporting companies.
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