After starting the week on the bleakest of notes, the London market ended with a flourish. The FTSE 100 posted its fourth consecutive advance and the FTSE 250 and SmallCap indices hit intra-day and closing peaks.
The closing gain was not easily achieved, however, as an indecisive opening by Wall Street triggered a brief afternoon sell-off.
At the close, Footsie was 20.0 up at 5,955.6, a gain of 37.8 over the week. The FTSE 250 faltered just short of 5,900, finishing 43.3 ahead at a record close of 5,897.8. The intra-day peak was 5,898.5. The FTSE SmallCap settled 6.1 up at 2,788.4, after reaching a record of 2,790.5.
The FTSE 250 posted a 1.7 per cent gain over the week, the SmallCap put on 1.4 per cent, the FTSE All-Share 0.9 per cent and the FTSE 100 0.6 per cent.
Dealers were slightly surprised by the continuing upward momentum in the leaders, given that Wall Street gave ground overnight and most Asian markets delivered relatively sluggish performances early yesterday. But they expressed no reservations about the strength of the mid-range shares and small-caps.
"Once the worries about US interest rates were dispelled, and the Indonesian crisis blew over, there was only one way the market was going," said one market-maker.
