ANOTHER burst of buying interest in the market's leading issues, which was said to have represented serious new money from one of the largest British investment funds, helped shares in London finish a difficult week in relatively good form.

Already lifted by Wall Street's show of strength, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average surging 87 points on Thursday, shares were lifted substantially by the new money coming into the market.

Such was the momentum behind the buying early in the day that the FTSE 100 index came within two points of last Friday's closing level, a remarkable performance given the turbulence on Wall Street at the start of the week.

By the close, Footsie had relinquished almost half its initial gains of 33 points, adding 17.1 to 3,710.5. The FTSE Mid 250, which under performed the 100 index on the way up during the morning, managed to hold on to most of its earlier gains, and closed 24.8 up at 4,250.

Dealers remained wary of the market, despite the strong recovery.

Turnover at 6pm was 607.5 million shares, while customer business on Thursday was worth £1.64 billion.