There was joy all round in London's equity market yesterday as dealers absorbed encouraging US employment and interest rates news. There had been widespread fears recently that the continuing strength of the US economy could have provoked the Federal Reserve to nudge US interest rates higher to choke off demand. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added more than 200 points to a new intra-day high.
When the curtain fell on a tense week in London's equity market, the FTSE 100 had regained the 6,200 level, sitting happily at 6,205.5, up 104.1.
That performance enabled the Footsie to post a decent gain - 30.4 or 0.5 per cent - over a week which included a real disappointment as the Bank of England's monetary policy committee left British interest rates on hold for the first time in six months of regular meetings.
Outside the leaders, there was a further flurry of demand for the second- and third-line stocks, which, unlike the FTSE 100 constituents, have been in fine form recently.
There were plenty of individual stories driving the market. TI, the engineering group, was the FTSE 250's best performer, after news that Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the US venture capital group, had bought a 4.9 per cent stake. Turnover in equities reached 1.2 billion shares, with non FTSE 100 stocks accounting for 54.3 per cent of the overall figure.
