The three-day sequence of losses in London's equity market was halted yesterday as Wall Street rallied strongly after its interest rate worry-induced setback was reversed and bond markets in London and New York raced higher.
After spending much of the morning session in the red, mainly because of Wall Street's overnight slide, which saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average off 132 points, the sell-off in British stocks gradually slackened, to be followed by a brief pause and then a gradual build up of confidence.
Dealers in London said the three-day bout of weakness in London, which trailed in the wake of Wall Street's fall, had more than accounted for the expected shift in US interest rates.
At the close of the session the FTSE 100 was 18.7 firmer at 6,435.4, after a high of 6,446.2, reducing the decline over the week to 92.4, or 1.4 per cent. Early in the day the index had dropped back below the 6,400 level, hitting a session low of 6,379.6.
There was no such respite for the market's junior FTSE indices, however. The FTSE 250 finished the session a net 25.1 off at 5,867.1, having fallen to 5,857.9 over the lunchtime period. Over the five-days the 250 index gave up 46.5, or 0.8 per cent.
