British stocks climbed back on the upside trail yesterday, but the celebrations to mark the twin interest rate cuts in Britain and the euro zone on Thursday were cut short by worries about the Balkan crisis.

There was evidence too that the institutions were shifting away from the recently buoyant FTSE 100 constituents towards the market's second and third-rank stocks. These included the house-builders, retailers and engineers, all of which are heavily represented in the FTSE 250 and SmallCap indices and which are especially sensitive to interest rates.

There were additional pressures being brought to bear on the market by the Department of Trade and Industry's blocking of the BSkyB bid for Manchester United, which was being interpreted as stopping any future predatory moves against British football clubs.

Adding to those worries was a rather stodgy start to trading in the US, where Wall Street fell away during early dealing.

Footsie's closing gain of 34.9 on 6,472.8 saw the index finish a dramatic four-session week a net 142.8 or 2.2 per cent higher, with dealers noting the continuing surge of new money into the market, mostly reflecting the last throes of personal equity plan cash being pushed into shares.

The FTSE 250 index pushed up 49.5 to 5,563.5, extending the rise on the week to 128.2 or 2.4 per cent. The FTSE SmallCap ended 2.6 ahead at 2,423.3, up 18.31 or 0.8 per cent on the week.