London's stock market ended a turbulent week on a bright note, buoyed by good performances from Wall Street on Thursday and again at the outset yesterday, as the latest economic data from the US continued to soothe some of the worst worries about the potential upside for US interest rates.

Keeping dealers on the hop in London was some lively takeover action in the leisure sector, where news of a 160p (€2.67) a share bid for Thomson Travel from C & N, the German travel company, was instantly followed by a market raid and news of third-party intervention.

London stocks were on the up from the start of what was a lively session in a stock market looking for stimulation after a bout of persistent concerns on US interest rates.

But it was always difficult for London to make progress, especially in the face of a firmer exchange rate, which saw the Bank of England's trade-weighted index finish the session at 109.0, up 0.7.

That performance was in sharp contrast to recent moves in the currency after the Bank of England's quarterly inflation report which many saw as an indication that British interest rates might now be nearing their cyclical peak.

But it was the news from the US that provided the main thrust for London. As one marketmaker in London put it: "As soon as we knew Wall Street was going ahead, there was no problem for us."

US producer prices fell 0.3 per cent in April, news that was seen as damping the clamour for an aggressive increase in US interest rates on Tuesday, when the US Federal Reserve's open market committee meets.

The FTSE 100 index eventually closed 37.6 higher at 6,283.5, having dipped away to post a 25.3 loss at 6,220.6 in the morning and hit a session best of 6,304.2 in mid afternoon.

Unlike recent sessions, however, the FTSE 250 and Smallcap indices were always on the upside and never looked likely to fall into negative ground.

The FTSE 250 pushed up 63.1 to 6,271.3, after a high of 6,274.2, while the SmallCap finished 14.7 firmer at 3,197.3. The recently battered Techmark 100 index also enjoyed a better session, rising 66.99 to 3,463.54.

Turnover in the equity market was nothing special, eventually reaching 1.61 billion shares, a figure boosted substantially by the 206 million shares traded in Vodafone AirTouch and the 137 million shares traded in Thomson Travel.