WITH Wall Street on half-time and little domestic news to get excited about, London looked partly to Germany for inspiration.
Record highs in German stocks and bund futures helped the FTSE 100 index hang on to some futures-inspired gains and end the day 7.8 higher at 4058.0. The gain was echoed by the FT-SE Mid-250, which rose 11.8 to 4,428.5.
The day began with vague rumblings of a possible takeover among the blue chips and, also, a number of short positions among leading institutions.
The bid speculation, which has encompassed SmithKline Beecham, Abbey National, British Gas and several insurers, failed to translate into genuine takeover activity.
Nevertheless, underweight positions remained and underpinned, the market as fund managers attempted to adjust their weightings any time the index dipped.
An early rise in the future helped pull Footsie higher in early trading. The index was 17.6 higher at one point, at 4,067.8, but then drifted back.
News that consumer credit was lower in October than it had been in the previous month provided some balm to inflationary irritations. But credit growth is still strong and there was no real suggestion that the latest data destroyed the argument for an increase in base rates.
When Wall Street started its shortened session after the Thanksgiving break, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rapidly recorded a 30-point gain and Treasury bonds rose strongly.
