Ten years ago yesterday, market-makers enthused by a rampant stock market performance following the 1986 Big Bang changes clambered over fallen trees and ducked to avoid cascades of roof tiles caused by hurricane winds.
When the more hardy and determined dealers got to their trading desks, the electronic market was almost deserted; trading screens were blank and there were no FTSE indices available.
Yesterday brought its own problems, with a poor showing by Wall Street on Thursday and again early yesterday, plus the inevitable bout of nervousness ahead of the shift in share trading methods on Monday.
But there were few in the City willing to predict anything like the market meltdown that occurred on October 19th, 1987. "Yes, it was a tough day for the traders, who had to tidy up their FTSE 100 books, cutting here and adding quietly there, to make sure we get off to a clean start on Monday morning," said the head trader at one big European securities house.
He remained quietly confident, however, about the market's ability to cope with the new system which brings a shift from quote-driven to order-driven trading via the new electronic order book.
The FTSE 100 index kicked off the day on the back foot and down over 32 points, after the Dow's 119-point retreat. A good rally ensued, lifting the index to a session best of 5,277.5 over the lunch-time period, with the expiry of the Footsie future causing little pressure in either direction.
