UNCHANGED base rates, some benign inflation numbers and a positive international background helped the FT-SE 100 index jump to all-time closing and intra-day highs yesterday.
With Wall Street losing ground on Wednesday and some nervousness ahead of the base rate news, Footsie opened 1.6 points lower at 4,157.3 and was 5.7 points down at its worst.
But the mood quickly changed when the economic statistics showed underlying inflation dipping to an annual rate of 3.1 per cent (from 3.3 per cent) in December, and it then became clear from Bank of England money market operations that base rates were not going to rise.
Other markets were also helpful. Gilts reacted well to the inflation numbers with the benchmark 10-year issue rising by nearly three-quarters of a point. Once again, a host of continental European bourses chalked up all-time highs.
The market's advance was broadly spread. The FT-SE SmallCap index also recorded a new peak as it gained 11.7 to 2,278.9. The FT-SE 250 index rose 5.9 to 4,565.9, still just short of its all-time high of 4,568.6, recorded last April.
One of the few disappointments of the day was the profits warning from retailer John Menzies, which highlighted the patchy nature of Christmas trading on the high street. Shares in W.H. Smith fell in sympathy.
Turnover at 6 p.m. was 960.2 million shares, with slightly more than half in non-Footsie stocks. The value of customer business on Wednesday was £1.55 billion, the highest so far this year.
