The last day of a busy week in Footsie derivatives brought a volatile session in stock index futures in which the lead contract traded in a wide range.
After a stronger than anticipated opening at 5,110, the September contract on the FTSE 100 quickly moved ahead and was trading at 5,123 within the first hour before settling into a period of sideways trading late in the morning.
A steep decline in US bonds triggered a lunch-time sell-off in September and it fell to a low of 5,010, at which point it was trading at a deep discount to cash.
Some of the earlier momentum was regained as the session drew to a close and the contract settled at 5,044, down 81 on its previous close. In the traded options, turnover held steady at 57,720 contracts. Barclays, predictably, was a profit-taking casualty after its astounding performance yesterday.
It slipped 27p to £14.21 which made a small dent in the 120 1/2p advance of the day before.
Other banks were also targets, Lloyds TSB shed 26 1/2p to 751 1/2p, Bank of Scotland lost 12p at 436 1/2p, and Halifax dropped 14 1/2 p to 733p.
