BRITISH shares delivered another acutely disappointing performance yesterday, rounding off a dismal week which saw prices decline in each of the five trading sessions.
As the FTSE 100 plunged back through the 4,600 level, the Dow Jones Industrial Average moved in the opposite direction pushing through the 7,800 mark to hit an all-time high. Another worry for the equity market was the latest upward move by sterling which took the Bank of England's index against a basket of leading currencies up to 101.2, its highest since mid-July 1992.
Yesterday's showing was confused by an early erratic display, during which prices were pulled in both directions because of the influences exerted by the expiry of the June FTSE future along witch FTSE 100 index options. Footsie began the day in good heart, moving up over 18 points in response to Wall Street's positive showing and the continuing strength of US Treasuries.
But by the end of a tense session the leading index was left nursing a 59.8 decline at 4,593.9, extending the fall on the week to 189.2, or 4 per cent. Its subsequent slide was mostly caused by a build up of worries about the forthcoming budget and the prospect of a further increase in British interest rates in the short term.
The FTSE Mid-250, meanwhile, gave up 7.9 to 4,485.0, bringing the loss on the week up to 101.1 points, or 2.2 per cent. The FTSE All-Share index ended down 22.2 at 2,187.93 to post a fall of 3.4 per cent on the week.
