The burst of buying interest in London's stock market triggered by last Friday's US employment report mostly petered out yesterday with investors preferring to wait for today's Budget.
Some observers were surprised at London's reluctance to push ahead and challenge its intra-day and closing records, given the extent of Wall Street's strength on Friday, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average raced up 268 points to a new peak.
Others pointed to the imminent Budget, and also noted the unimpressive performance by Tokyo and Hong Kong, Asia's two most important markets.
The Dow's surge was a reflection of growing hopes that the US Federal Reserve's open market committee will leave US interest rates on hold after its March 30 meeting.
After a session of erratic moves, the FTSE 100 index eventually settled a fraction higher at 6,208.8, up 3.3.
The small gain came despite a bout of profit-taking on Wall Street that saw the Dow retreat from its record close and trade 30 points lower shortly after London closed.
The Footsie put on a choppy performance that saw it trade in a 60 point arc. Its closing performance would have been 10 points better but for the impact of dividend payments.
