There were more big gains for London's equity market yesterday, with all the leading FTSE indices kicking on strongly, led by buoyant high-technology and telecoms stocks.

But there was also evidence of the expected high volatility in leading stocks as the institutions began to wind down their 1999 trading efforts. This volatility was increased by the dual expiries of the FTSE 100 future and index options, which took place in mid-morning.

The main driving force behind the latest burst of strength in the high-technology and telecoms sectors came from the dynamic performance on Thursday of their counterparts in the US. The After a day of erratic trading, the FTSE 100 was left with a 52.6 gain at 6,724.6, only 17.6 below its closing high, reached on December 3rd.

The FTSE 250 delivered the star performance of the UK indices, surging 68.4 to a record closing high of 6,330.5, having just failed to reach its intra-day record of 6,347.3. The midcap also delivered the best individual performance over the five-day period, posting a 47.1 gain, compared with a 14.9 decline in the 100 index and a 25.52 fall in the SmallCap.