London's equity market finished fractionally lower after a day of erratic moves, with dealers wary of the potential for more substantial weakness on Wall Street. But most traders insisted that London remained well underpinned in what they described as a delicately poised market.

At the close, the FTSE 100 index was 3.5 down at 6,074.9. That minor retreat masked a pretty volatile day. The early action in London was confused by talk of some uncommercial prices entered into the system and involving a number of FTSE 100 stocks, notably Barclays, which were said to have distorted London's benchmark index at the opening.

At its best, Footsie was 44.9 higher at 6,123.3, a move reflecting initial excitement with the latest batch of company results from leading British stocks, most notably Halifax, the building society-turned bank, which continued the sequence of well-received figures from the banks sector. Initial enthusiasm quickly evaporated, however, and the index fell away. Footsie posted a 71.3 decline and threatened to slip through the 6,000 level, before it stabilised and embarked on a quiet but determined rally.

Turnover in equities reached 998.2 million shares at 6 p.m. yesterday, with FTSE 100 stocks accounting for 54 per cent of the overall figure.