FTSE climbs to 14-year high with a little help from Wall Street

Mergers and takeover chatter on Wall Street helped the FTSE 100 climb to a 14‑year high yesterday.

After a broadly flat market for most of the day in the UK, a rising Dow Jones index helped London to a late surge and the FTSE 100 recorded a 27.8 points rise to 6,865.86 – smashing last May’s high, the most recent since the dotcom crash.

The Footsie’s record high of 6930.2 was reached back in 30 December 1999, at the height of the dotcom boom. The December 1999 intra-day record was 6950.6.

Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said: "It is hard to imagine what could prevent a test of 6950 and the all-time highs given the current resilience of all markets to disappointing economic and earnings data."

The FTSE 100 could have been even further ahead if the likes of HSBC had not dragged it down. The bank missed City forecasts.

Investors anticipating a dividend halt and rights issue at RSA Insurance also dragged on the index.