Around the World's Markets: London

LONDON SHARES soared to an all-time high yesterday boosted by an opening rally in New York and a flurry of domestic takeover speculation.

A strong opening on Wall Street, which was over 200 points higher when London closed, provided a firm underpinning for the FTSE 100. The blue- chip index closed 94.7 higher at 6,515.3, a record high, on large turnover of over 1.4bn shares traded. The smaller indices were also in record-breaking form.

Derek Pain, page 15