It was a day of broken records all round for the two main FTSE indices. The 100 and All-Share hit intra-day and closing highs as the upward momentum in global stock markets gathered pace yesterday.

The FTSE 100 burst through the 6,600 level for the first time ever, but just failed to finish above that mark. It ended the day a net 90.0 ahead at a record closing high of 6,593.7.

At its best of the session, shortly before Wall Street opened, the index hit an intra-day peak of 6,635.9. The soaring FTSE 100 index dragged the FTSE All-Share comfortably clear of the 3,000 level it first broke through two weeks ago.

The broad-based index closed at a record 3,039.21, up 35.4, having hit an intra-day record of 3,055.08 during the early afternoon.

For a change, mid-cap and small-cap stocks, which outperformed the market leaders by some distance during the first quarter of the year, were left gasping by the momentum of the front-line stocks.

But the two junior indices nevertheless continued to make excellent progress, the FTSE 250 finishing the day a net 20.1 higher at 5,808.7, having hit 5,814.8 at best, while the FTSE SmallCap settled 8.55 better at 2,542.4, a fraction below the session high of 2,542.5.

Unlike the FTSE 100 and All-Share indices the mid and small-cap remained well below their respective record closing and intra-day peaks. The driving force behind the market's latest upsurge was a mixture of renewed strength on Wall Street, news and rumours of take-overs and mergers and the momentum argument.