Wall St boosts equities after rates gloom

It was left to Wall Street to help rescue the FTSE 100 index from the doom and gloom that engulfed the London market early in…

It was left to Wall Street to help rescue the FTSE 100 index from the doom and gloom that engulfed the London market early in the day. With the holiday season in full swing, the market debut of Internet service provider Freeserve was the only diversion amid increasing worries about US interest rates after last week's comments to the US Congress by Mr Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Although there was some nervousness that New York's decline on Friday could cast a shadow over London, Footsie's firm start at 6,207.4 and its subsequent advance to 6,223.9 within the first 30 minutes was seen, in some quarters, as a sign of confidence.

Footsie was pulled out of its gloom by an early improvement in New York. The leading index crawled forward, finally closing at 6,169.1, down 38.3. Helped by Freeserve, turnover was well over the 1 billion share mark, at 1.26 billion.