Comforting domestic inflation data for November coupled with a much more reassuring performance by Wall Street at the start of trading helped London's equity market finish modestly higher yesterday.

Dealers were slightly surprised at the level of business going through the market.

Most had expected turnover to run down quickly as the week wore on, after many of the big institutions had indicated their intention of curtailing market operations ahead of the Christmas and New Year festivals and the launch of the euro.

Turnover crept over the 800 million level, eventually finishing at 809.1 million shares, helped by another burst of heavy activity in the oil majors, BP and Shell which together accounted for almost 5 per cent of overall market business.

Activity was split almost equally between the FTSE 100 and other stocks.

But London struggled for direction for much of the session. Early sentiment was dented by Wall Street's sharp overnight retreat, which saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 126 points and beset with worries about the ongoing process to impeach President Clinton.

Asian markets also offered no real support to London, with Hong Kong managing a modest improvement but Tokyo slipping back.

The FTSE 100 index finished a comfortable 22.6 ahead at 5,557.1, having hit a session peak of 5,559.8, up 25.3, only minutes before the close. The FTSE 250 dropped 25.2 to 4,681.3.