The last trading session of the quarter brought comfort to investors that suffered badly from the sell-off in the market. But one day's rally could not disguise a dismal month and quarter. The FTSE 100 may have gained 45.3 to 5,633.7 but it started the quarter at 6,222.5.

Appropriately enough, while most of the main indices gained ground yesterday, the Techmark 100 ended in negative territory in the face of the latest burst of profit warnings from the US. Burdened by a fresh dose of hefty losses in stocks such as CMG, Energis, Marconi and many other TMTs (technology, media and telecom stocks), the Techmark 100 retreated a further 15.64 to 1,927.58.

On the plus side the market was helped along by evidence of some end-quarter window-dressing by marketmakers and institutions keen to enhance their end-quarter performances. And there was keen support from investors looking for a market bounce after a sequence of five consecutive losing quarterly performances from the FTSE 100, the first time the market has sustained losses of that duration since the agonising bear market of 1973-1974.

While dealers were happy with the market's latest rally, there was still a feeling that the market was by no means clear of the turbulence and extreme uncertainty that has been such a feature of the past quarter.

Yesterday's good showing was also being attributed to the view that the Bank of England's monetary policy committee will cut domestic interest rates following its two-day meeting scheduled for next week, with its decision to be announced at midday on Thursday.

Over the week the FTSE 100 rose 231.4, or 4.3 per cent, while the 250 was up 150.9, or 2.5 per cent, the SmallCap up 13.86, or 0.5 per cent, and the Techmark 100 down 9.4, or 0.5 per cent. The numbers for the quarter made grim reading for investors. The FTSE 100 has lost 588.8 points, or 9.5 per cent, the 250 452.8, or 6.9 per cent and the SmallCap 300.26, or 9.4 per cent.

The most gruesome figure of all, however, comes from the Techmark 100, which has plummeted 636.47 points, or a massive 24.8 per cent. Just a year ago, investors were piling money into technology funds ahead of the tax year end.

Turnover in equities was 1.86 billion shares by the 6 p.m. count.