Making a reasonably good start to the week, London's equity market built quietly but solidly on the better trend that developed at the end of last week as Wall Street remained in good heart and there were no real shocks to the system.

The FTSE 100 ended the day a net 39.6, or 0.63 per cent, higher at 6,315.9, having reached a session best of 6,326.7 at one point, extending the gain over the past three sessions to 167.7, or 2.7 per cent.

That performance was seen by dealers as another strong indicator of the fundamental platform under the FTSE 100 whenever it gets close to 6,000 as it has done on recent occasions and earlier this year, specifically when the then rampant TMT stocks encountered a sudden burst of selling pressure.

Similarly, the 100 index always seems to run into a wall of selling whenever it runs up to the 6,800 level.

The better feeling in the market's top 100 stocks spilled over into the second tier, represented by the FTSE 250, which although underperforming the 100 index, still managed a closing gain of 16.1, or 0.25 per cent, at 6,518.1. At its best of the day, the 250 index touched 6,522.3.

The market picture shifted when it came to the TMT area, represented by the Techmark 100 index, which finished a rather subdued day a net 24.11 off at 3,426.43, having dipped off to 3,389.41 at the day's lowest point.

Similarly, the FTSE SmallCap was always under downside pressure, eventually closing 11.4 lower at 3,247.0, after declining to 3,244.3 at its worst of the day.

Bolstered by the big weighting of FTSE 100 stocks, the FTSE All-Share index rose 16.21 to 3,021.57.

Much of the action in London yesterday was prompted by a series of constituent changes in the FTSE 100, where the splitting of BG Group, into Lattice, which operates the pipelines system, and BG, now an oil and gas exploration and production company, brought massive activity in both stocks.

The splitting of P & O into P & O Princess Cruises and the rump of the business which comprises the ferries and ports operations, saw the latter drop out of the index.

Railtrack was another big market story, its shares racing up towards the top of the FTSE 100 performance table after the rail regulator announced his five year review which will see a near £15 billion in new investment.

The withdrawal of the BT-led Blu consortium from the Italian 3G mobile licences auction triggered plenty of action in BT and other telecoms shares.