British equities were up yesterday, but largely because they had been down for the past few trading days. The 1 per cent rally after three weak days lacked the punch of several of the European bourses. Paris, for example, jumped 2 per cent. Tactical buying rather than strategic investment was seen as the motor behind the big rises and heavy turnover in classic defensive areas such as utilities and supermarkets.

If there was a genuine spark behind yesterday's recovery, it probably came from US durable goods data, released late on Wednesday. Orders in February fell 5 per cent to $191.8 billion (€176 billion) the biggest drop for seven years and the first time they had fallen since October.

Meanwhile, optimism that British rates would fall in early April remained intact after the latest industrial trends survey from the Confederation of British Industry.

Turnover by 6 p.m. was quoted at 1.3 billion shares, at the high end of the recent trend. Footsie saw 660 million shares changing hands while non-Footsie stocks accounted for 643 million. Volume was fuelled by heavy trade of almost 60 million shares in Centrica.