Telecoms, banks and pharmaceuticals, the three main driving forces behind the London equity market's surge in recent years, were again the prime movers yesterday.

The momentum in those three areas helped drive the FTSE 100 back above the 6,000 level and to within 55 points of its previous record close, 6,179.0.

That record was achieved in July last year, just before the sudden plunge in the Russian currency and stock market triggered a near- collapse of Long-Term Capital Management, the hedge fund, and a global stock market sell-off.

The telecoms sector stole the outperformance honours as the market celebrated Vodafone's merger with AirTouch, creating the world's largest mobile telephone company and the UK's third biggest company.

Vodafone shares pushed higher as analysts applauded the logic of the deal and institutions rushed to increase their weightings in the group.

The dominance of telecoms was such that the sector provided the top five individual FTSE 100 performers for much of the session.