London's leading shares are on track for their best ever quarterly performance, as the market continues to pick up from its March lows on hopes that the economic recovery will not fizzle out.
The FTSE 100 is currently 3.36 points higher at 5163.08, while Wall Street has moved ahead at the opening after better than expected US GDP figures.
According to market historian David Schwartz, the third quarter will have risen around 22% from its opening level of 4249. (In March, as a reminder, the index had fallen as low as 3512.)
Previous record quarters, according to Schwartz, were as follows:
4th quarter 1999 – opened 6029, closed 6930 – up 14.9% (TMT bubble)
2nd quarter 1987 – opened 1997, closed 2284 – up 14.3% (pre-October crash)
4th quarter 1992 – opened 2553, closed 2846 – up 11.5% (pound exited the ERM)
