LEADING British stocks bounded ahead for the seventh straight session yesterday, pulled up by Wall Street's overnight show of strength, coupled with a successful outcome to the latest gilts auction.
Other factors influencing the stock market included confirmation of the rumoured opinion poll showing the Conservatives had reduced the Labour lead to about five points from a previous figure of 14 points.
There were certainly no surprises for the market with the news that the minutes of the March meeting between Mr Kenneth Clarke, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Mr Eddie George, governor of the Bank of England, revealed the governor seeking "the usual 25 basis points" on interest rates. As one market wag put it: "As usual, Mr Clarke begged to differ."
Further important events in the market included the latest Confederation of British Industry survey of industrial trends and the March retail sales number, which, at plus 0.3 per cent, came in as expected.
The FTSE 100 index finished the session 41.6 ahead at 4,387.7 after faltering on the verge of the 4,400 level. At its best it reached 4,396.1, a session gain of 50 points. The FTSE 100 has risen 136 points, or 3.2 per cent, over the seven trading periods.
Unlike recent sessions, the upsurge in the market's leaders quickly filtered through to second liners and smaller stocks. The FTSE Mid250 advanced 15.1 to 4528.4, while the SmallCap added 5.0 to push back through the 2,300 mark, closing at 2,300.6.
Marketmakers were shocked at the extent of Wall Street's over night leap, which saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 173 points, the second biggest points gain on record, surpassed only by the 186 point rise in the Average two days after the 508 point plunge in the Dow on "Black Monday" in 1987.
But London never looked like fully emulating the US performance, partly because of the opinion poll, which reminded investors of the possibility of a hung parliament.
"A hung parliament would be the worst outcome, a Labour victory by 200 seats the next worst. The ideal result, if Labour is to win, is a 22 seat victory, which could limit their ambitions," said the head dealer at one big European securities house.
Financial stocks remained in the vanguard of the market's advance, with banks and insurances accounting for six out of the top 10 FTSE 100 performers.
Alliance & Leicester was the market's most heavily traded stock, thanks to the third and final auction of member stock.
Alliance shares resumed the upward path as the big institutions, looking at underweight positions, chased the shares in the market.
