Sentiment in London's equity market remained strongly positive yesterday and it was only the debilitating effects of another dismal performance by oil stocks, which have such a heavy weighting, that stopped the FTSE 100 from romping ahead.
The latest weakness in the oil majors, BP and Shell, amid widespread oil prices and earnings downgrades by leading brokers, accounted for more than 50 points of downside for the 100 index.
Given that burden, the FTSE 100's closing fall of 2.5 at 5,238.2, after extremes of 5,297.1 on the upside and 5,193.4 on the downside, was seen as creditable.
However, the FTSE 250, FTSE SmallCap and Techmark 100 indices registered further stunning gains. The latter recrossed the 1,600 level for then first time since the start of August and, up 52.44, or 3.4 per cent at 1,608.28, extended its gain over the past three sessions to a startling 156.95, or 11 per cent.
The market's bullishness stemmed very much from the strong showing on Wednesday evening and again yesterday by Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average moved to within striking distance of the 10,000 level.
Sentiment in global markets has recovered strongly from the start of the week when the New York air disaster, now regarded as unlikely to have been caused by terrorists, triggered a brief, but nevertheless substantial, slide in stock prices.
The big gains in many of the TMTs came in the wake of some heavy switching back into many of the cyclical stocks, at the expense of the oils and some of the more defensive areas of the market, such as tobaccos, utilities and food retailers.
Some of the market's recent casualties staged remarkable comebacks yesterday, including Invensys, whose shares shot up 34 per cent amid relief over its interim numbers and after reassurance about its indication that it will exceed its required level of interest cover by the end of the financial year.
British Airways was another, its shares racing higher ahead of the news that it has retained its place in the FTSE 100. MM02 enters the index on Monday, replacing United Business & Media.
Turnover in equities was a hefty 3.6 billion shares with activity in Vodafone, Invensys, BP and Shell, accounting for almost a third of the total.
