Wall Street helps Foots to further records

An early burst of big gains right across the market, triggered mostly by more merger and takeover news, later gave way to persistent flurries of profit-taking which capped the gains of the FTSE 100 index.

But Footsie still managed to end another exceptionally busy trading session at a record close albeit by the narrowest of margins, having hit an intra-day high earlier in the day.

And the recent enthusiasm surrounding the stock market remained very much intact. The FTSE 250 and SmallCap indices both raced higher to finish at intra-day and closing peaks.

Worries that Wall Street, returning for a shortened session after the Thanksgiving holiday, might spoil London's party, were misplaced, with the Dow Jones starting on a hesitant note but quickly gathering itself and moving ahead.

The FTSE 100 index eventually scrambled to a 2.0 gain at 6,684.8, rescued, dealers said, by Wall Street's good performance. At its best, the index had blasted through the 6,700 level, hitting an intra-day peak of 6,743.1.