ANOTHER disappointing day for shares saw a virtual repeat of Wednesday's trading pattern an initial lift from a record close on Wall Street which quickly fizzled out, followed by a gradual decline for the FTSE 100 index during the afternoon.
The latest mega merger between United News & Media and MAI failed to bolster the blue chips although it did allow the Mid 250 index (both merger partners are constituents) to defy the trend.
Brokers said that the investment institutions are not being particularly active at the moment, confining their attention to switching between individual stocks, and the overall direction of the market is being driven by short term traders, often in the futures market. Yesterday afternoon, for example, a flurry of activity in the pits sent the trading screens mostly red around 4 p.m.
The recent flurry of profits warnings continues to keep investors cautious ahead of the March results season.
Volume was once again healthy with some 798.9 million shares traded by the 6 p.m. count, of which 57 per cent were non Footsie stocks. The value of customer business on Wednesday was just under £1.8 billion.
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