FOR once, the London equity market steered its own course. Guided by corporate and institutional activity, it ignored Wall Street, the bond markets and Europe.

Corporate activity came in the form of a big share buy back from Guinness. Institutional involvement was more difficult to identify but some senior dealers were suggesting one fund had been buying the general market heavily.

The combined effect was to take a market that looked like it was heading lower and move it above a level which had begun to seem like a barrier. The FTSE 100 index climbed back past 3,700 to end the day 8.7 higher at 3,707.0, a rise of 1.7 per cent over the week. And the second line index - the FTSE Mid 250 hit another peak with a rise of 6.9 to 4,304.3, up 1.8 per cent in the past five trading days.

It was a different story at the opening. There had been stock washing around the system in London on Thursday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the US had pointed the way down.

Bonds were weak throughout Europe as investors fretted about the direction US Treasuries would take. In Britain, some investors were also keeping their powder dry ahead of a £3 billion sterling gilts auction next week.

Many market makers ended the week happier than when they started it. While they pointed out that companies going ex dividend would take almost 12 points off the FTSE 100 index on Monday, they said there were hints genuine buying was back on the agenda.