London's equity market fell for the fifth straight trading session yesterday, with an early attempt at a rally quickly running out of steam as buyers held off and nervous sellers returned.

There were no shattering new economic stories behind the market's latest setback, merely a resumption of the downward trend on Wall Street, which looked increasingly vulnerable at the outset of trading in New York.

"There is a feeling around the market that we're in for a tough time over the summer months," a dealer said.

He said the prospect of a rise in US interest rates, possibly as early as the next meeting of the US Federal Reserve's open market committee, scheduled for June 29th-30th, was gnawing away at investors' confidence.

He noted continuing concerns among investors about the possible use of ground forces by NATO in the Balkans conflict and the latest outbreak of hostilities between Indian and Pakistani military forces in Kashmir.

At the finish of another erratic trading session, the FTSE 100 index had dropped below the 6,200 level, viewed by some chart watchers as increasing the likelihood of a further decline back through 6,000.

The weakness of the leading stocks never filtered down to the mid-ranking and small-cap stocks, which rallied after retreating for the previous four sessions.