Super stocks drive on resurgent Footsie

Many of the London equity market's super stocks, plus a sprinkling of recently underperforming tech stocks, were responsible for driving a resurgent FTSE 100 index yesterday.

At the finish of the session the FTSE 100 index was up 120.7, or 2 per cent, its best of the day, recouping around two thirds of the losses sustained in the previous three trading sessions.

The FTSE 250 was also in excellent form, accelerating to 6,488.7 before coming off the top to settle a net 31.1 higher at 6,487.2.

The FTSE SmallCap and the TechMARK 100, while always in positive territory, tended to be left on the sidelines as investors preferred to play in the bigger stocks, especially in a thinly traded session, dealers said.

The SmallCap rose 6.7 to 3,158.0, and the TechMARK 100 finished 39.54 better at 2,560.59.

Before yesterday's rally, London had been suffering from a worrying loss of confidence that had driven the FTSE 100 index down to a seven-month low.

There was no disguising the poor level of business in the market place, however.

Many of the City's trading desks were operating at minimal levels as traders and fund managers preferred to extend their holidays to encompass the short period between Christmas and the new year.

The lack of institutional activity saw turnover in equities fall away to 635 million shares by the close.

Traders who did make it into the City were generally surprised at the return of confidence in the equity market, which they attributed to the good showing by Wall Street, especially last Friday, when London closed for half a day.

It was then that the Dow Jones Industrial Average shot up 148 and the recently beleaguered Nasdaq Composite raced up more than 6 per cent.

The Dow's performance on St Stephen's Day, when it climbed a further 56 points, was similarly impressive, although the Nasdaq eventually gave ground to finish 23 points lower.

The US markets gave another supportive performance yesterday, the Dow posting a 60-plus gain as London closed for the day and the Nasdaq up more than 20 points.

Marketmakers said London could take its rally a stage further this morning, if Wall Street holds. Any revival is expected to be relatively short-lived, however, as the market runs into another half-day session tomorrow, ahead of the new year holiday.