A promising start to yesterday's London trading soon gave way to another dose of uncertainty as investors preferred to sit out the final session of the second quarter.
At the finish of a rather tense, but generally thinly traded session, the FTSE 100 index closed 11.4 ahead at 6,318.5. During the previous two sessions, the index gave up 128.3, or 2 per cent, as dealers became increasingly uneasy over the prospect of a rise in US rates. There were no such fireworks in the FTSE 250, 6.8 firmer at 5,858.2, or the FTSE SmallCap, 0.6 off at 2,650.6.
Dealers said it was no surprise that the institutions refused to trade ahead of the crucial decision by the US Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee on interest rates.
Overnight, the US market had delivered another stunning performance, the Dow registering its second consecutive three-figure gain. That performance saw the FTSE 100 make rapid early progress and record a 64.5 gain before running out of steam and slipping all the way back into negative territory just before midday.
