A record level of activity in the after-market auction kept traders busy yesterday, as investors reshuffled their portfolios in response to changes in the Morgan Stanley Capital Index indices (MSCI).
In the 18 minutes after the official close, 165.9 million shares worth £811.3 million sterling were traded, according to the London Stock Exchange, compared with previous auction records of 105 million shares and £483 million. Overall turnover for the day was 2.21 billion shares.
MSCI changed the weightings of its indices, which are widely used by US investors, at the close yesterday.
The late flurry of trading came at the end of a day dominated by disappointing US economic data and the repercussions of the financial problems of Enron, the US energy trading company.
Abbey National was the biggest UK casualty of the Enron saga, dropping 5.6 per cent, as the bank revealed that it had a £115 million exposure to the group and said it had seen a "limited deterioration" in credit quality in its wholesale banking division. Royal Bank of Scotland also said it had exposure to the US group.
Technology shares had a better day after SAP, the German software giant, issued a positive statement on the level of its US business. ARM was the sixth-best performer in the FTSE 100 and SAP the best in the FTSE 250.
The revised figure for US third-quarter GDP showed that the economy had contracted at an annualised 1.1 per cent rate, rather than the 0.3 per cent originally estimated. However, Wall Street did not seem too upset by the data, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average inching higher in early trading.
The Dow slipped into negative territory and the FTSE 100 reached its lowest level of the day, down 62.0 at 5,146.5, shortly after the figures were released. But Wall Street never looked in serious trouble and the blue-chip benchmark gradually recovered to close just 4.9 down at 5,203.6.
The other indices managed to edge ahead with the FTSE 250 advancing 17.1 to 5,849.5, the SmallCap 9.2 to 2,594.4 and the Techmark 100 rose 19.53 to 1,501.91.
Over the week, the FTSE 100 was down 1.7 per cent, the 250 off 1.2 per cent, the SmallCap 0.7 per cent and the Techmark 100 3.1 per cent.
