A HANGOVER from the programme trade executed late on Tuesday and Wall Street's rather stodgy showing brought a halt to the London market's run of six consecutive gains.
Not every FTSE index lost ground on the session, however. The SmallCap, which outpaced its senior brethren during February in terms of total return, moved ahead smoothly to yet more intraday and closing highs, finishing a net 3.3 up at 2,374.2, after a record of 2,375.2.
The FTSE 100 index, on the other hand, spent a much quieter session than of late, eventually settling 21.8 off at 4,422.3, while the FTSE 250 struggled manfully but never managed to claw its way into positive ground. It closed down 4.3 at 4.725.1.
Helping to depress sentiment in London yesterday was a handful of rather disappointing company news items from FTSE 100 stocks such as Schroders, Reed International and Rentokil.
There was no shortage of excitement in the dealing rooms, with a big placing of BSkyB shares catching the eye during early exchanges and news of another share buy back, this time in Iceland, the frozen food group.
Dealers said there had been no sizeable downside pressure from the big institutions just a steady stream of selling from small institutions and private investors.
"The big funds have held off to see how the market will develop in the wake of the slightly worrying tail off of demand on Wall Street," one dealer said.
Others said Wall Street had begun to run out of steam and that global markets would respond accordingly.
The day's British economic news, which showed industrial production unchanged and manufacturing output up 0.3 per cent during January, was as expected - and had very little impact on sentiment. Gilts fell away throughout - the day, closing down 9 to 15 ticks at the longer end.
The day began on a subdued note, with market makers taking avoidance action in the wake of the programme trade activity and because of Wall Street's quiet performance, and nudging share prices lower.
With the programme overspill largely cleared in the morning, the market began to rally before sliding afresh on hints that Wall Street would open lower. The Dow did fall in early trading but was never under any real pressure during London trading hours.
