The Federal Reserve's decision to leave US interest rates on hold and news that it had shifted to a policy-tightening bias left London's stock market in a quandary for much of yesterday. Buta substantial pick-up in market turnover during the last two hours of trading - attributed by some dealers to a sudden burst of programme trading activity - saw the market leap forward towards the close of business and finish on a buoyant note.

At the finish the FTSE 100 index had consolidated above the 6,200 level, ending the day a net 60.3 higher at 6,266.7, just off its session high of 6,268.2.

The other FTSE indices were less impressive. Supported by the performance of the FTSE 100 constituents the FTSE All-Share index settled 23.4 better at 2,911.37, the FTSE SmallCap closed 1.3 lower at 2,555.6 and the FTSE 250 pushed up 13.2 to 5,719.9.

There was plenty of domestic economic news to keep the market busy at the outset, with market bulls encouraged by the minutes of the May meeting of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee revealing that no fewer than four of its members had voted for another cut in UK interest rates.

Turnover in equities came out at a hefty 1.23 billion shares, with FTSE 100 stocks accounting for almost 60 per cent of the total.