A reversal of Wednesday's firm showing by the telecoms leaders, specifically Vodafone, pushed the FTSE 100 index into negative territory for much of yesterday, before a late US-inspired rally left the index marginally higher on balance.
The FTSE 100 was finally a net 5.0 higher at 6,223.2, having fallen 44.5 at worst and posted a session best of 6,226.4, up 8.2.
The last 30 minutes of trading in London saw the FTSE 100 intermittently dipping into the red and rallying just as quickly prior to nudging higher during the auction period after 4.30 p.m.
Dealers said the last-gasp efforts by the FTSE constituents were not generally accompanied by any large institutional business, and they expect business to fall away to minimal levels this morning when the market closes at 12.30 p.m.
While the FTSE 100 spent much of the day showing modest losses, for the rest of the market's indices it was generally another good performance all round, with the FTSE 250 responding to a mixture of exceptional gains in many areas.
They included the tech stocks, where shares badly affected by the mid-year slump in TMTs attracted buyers looking for oversold stocks.
Selected retailers also came in for strong support, as did the housebuilders.
The last-named were being chased by investors looking to take advantage of the prospects of lower domestic interest rates in the coming year and in the wake of numerous predictions of further rises in house prices in the New Year.
The FTSE 250 gained 26.1, having been up to 6,517.3 at best, while the FTSE SmallCap rose 13.4 to 3,171.4. The Techmark 100 was finally 1.13 off at 2,559.46.
Wall Street continued to provide good support for London, following up bullish overnight performances by both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite which rose 110 points and 45 points respectively with further gains for both.
