"Every time London has a good excuse to break free from Wall Street's shackles, the US market spoils the party," said Mr Corey Miller, British strategist at Paribas. The Paribas man was commenting on the poor performance of London's equity market at the end of a day most market observers would have expected to produce a strong upside display.

Already bursting with vitality ahead of the surprise news that the Bank of England's monetary policy committee had sanctioned a 50 basis points cut in British interest rates, the FTSE 100 posted a three-figure gain only to run back into negative ground at the finish. The index closed a net 0.4 down at 5,939.9, with dealers pointing accusing fingers at Wall Street as the culprit for a disappointing day that promised so much and, at the close, delivered nothing, at least from the British leaders.

There was some good news for investors in the market's mid-cap stocks, which clambered back on the upside tack, and the small-caps were again being chased by institutions and private investors after another spate of takeover stories.

Turnover at 6 p.m. was a hefty 1.24 billion shares.