A reassuring US non-farm payroll report for April took some of the heat off global markets, London included, yesterday. But although US bonds rallied and Wall Street kicked off with a strong opening performance, the FTSE 100 index remained in the red. The benchmark eventually finished the session a net 50.6 lower at 6,356.0, extending the decline over a week of erratic moves to 196.2 or 3 per cent. Dealers said the decision of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee meeting to leave domestic interest rates unchanged after its latest two-day deliberations had not dented underlying confidence.

Market-makers pointed out that the FTSE 100 and All-Share indices hit record intra-day and closing records on Tuesday after the Dow Jones Industrial Average burst through 11,000.

Turnover topped the 1 billion mark for the eighth trading session, eventually reaching 1.1 billion shares.