There was a feeling of niggling disappointment at the FTSE 100's failure yesterday to recross the 6,000 level it fell through so decisively at the start of March. The index launched several attempts at 6,000 only to falter after getting to within five points on two occasions. But while the index could not drive the final few points, it finished the session in positive territory for the third consecutive session. And that performance rounded off what was a generally robust showing by the London market, with the FTSE 250, SmallCap and Techmark 100 all making rapid progress.

At the close of trading, the FTSE 100 was left with a 15.5 gain at 5,966.9; at its best the index reached 5,995.4. The FTSE 250 settled 67.1 up at 6,409.2, while the FTSE SmallCap rose 34.6 to 3,051.4.

The Techmark 100 index celebrated an exceptionally strong performance by the TMT grouping with a 78.42 rise at 2,100.42. Driving London ahead yesterday was last Friday evening's strong finish to the Wall Street trading session, which showed the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 117 and the Nasdaq up over 40 points, plus another strong performance by Wall Street at the outset of trading yesterday.

Not long into the US session, the Dow came within five points of a three-figure gain and the Nasdaq was up more than 80 points. The strength of Wall Street was a reflection of the strong first-quarter gross domestic product data on Friday afternoon, plus some reasonably reassuring data on personal income and the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index. That data was interpreted as indicating that the US economy was perhaps not struggling as much as the pessimists had thought.

With the US Federal Reserve still on an easing bias in terms of monetary policy and the market still expecting another cut in US interest rates in the short term, the better news on the economy was seen as bullish for the stock market.

Footsie's failure to push through 6,000 was not the only disappointment. Turnover was badly affected by many international fund managers taking the day off ahead of May Day, which sees most of the continental European markets closed today.

At the 6 p.m. cut-off point turnover was only 1.65 billion shares, which was well down on recent sessions.