A FRESH burst of takeover fever in the regional electricity stocks and elsewhere helped the British stock market regain its nerve after three consecutive sessions of widespread weakness.
A firm showing by gilts, which were lifted by mildly supportive British economic news and gains in German government bonds, helped galvanise sentiment in equities, as did a good rally by Wall Street after an uncertain opening.
Gilts shrugged off an initial flurry of selling of US Treasury bonds after a much higher than expected increase in US durable goods orders. The durable goods figure was offset, dealers said by a 2.9 per cent fall in existing US home sales in September.
The 10 year gilt settled 24 ticks higher on the session and the 20 year a full point better.
For much of the past week, weakness in US stocks has been one of the main driving forces behind losses in British shares.
The FT-SE 100 index, down 73.7 during the three previous sessions, closed well clear of the 4,000 mark, finishing the day 23.0 higher at 4,022.4, reducing the loss on the week to 30.6 points, or 0.7 per cent.
Second liners moved ahead too, the FT SE Mid 250 index, heavily laden with utilities, climbing 7.0 to 4,431.5, leaving that index 18.6 down on the week.
