A flurry of programme trading activity, not all of it weighted on the buy side, plus powerful performances from some heavyweight sectors were the main driving forces behind the London equity market's better showing yesterday.

At one point, the FTSE 100 index cruised back through the 6,000 level, registering a three-figure gain and recapturing much of the ground lost over the previous two sessions. But that pace proved unsustainable, as a sluggish start to Wall Street, together with an alarmingly weak performance by Reuters, cut the gains in the leading index almost by half. The media group, saw its shares plummet almost 15 per cent, as analysts reacted strongly to briefings in the US.

At the finish, Footsie was 55.8 ahead at 5,969.7. Turnover was a healthy 1.29 billion shares by the 6 p.m. count.