A buoyant telecommunication sector, among the UK stock market's best performing areas in recent years, was the prime mover behind another sparkling showing by London's stock market yesterday. A sudden spate of corporate deals involving the UK's leading telecoms companies, BT and Cable and Wireless, plus the continuing expectation that many more global corporate deals are in the pipeline, saw both stocks aggressively bought and marketmakers caught by a shortage of stocks, thereby exaggerating the upward moves in both.

"Without the telecoms, it would have been a very quiet day indeed," said one marketmaker. But he insisted the market felt well underpinned by the continuing takeover rumours circulating in the stock market.

News of GEC's $4 billion (€3.8 billion) offer to buy Fore Systems of the US was another plus for the market, with GEC shares, already a good market, moving up a gear and posting a 5 per cent gain at the close.

The FTSE 100 index made a strong run at a record, re-crossing 6,500 at the day's best and touching 6,521.9 before slipping back on the emergence of light profit-taking. It staged another strong run that left the index a net 75.6 up at 6,503.6.