Legal & General provided a dramatic end to the week as shares in the insurance group rocketed at the close in what appears to have been an incidence of so-called "fat finger" syndrome.
Having bumped around at about 70-80p for most of the day, the shares suddenly closed up a whopping 94p at 170p.
Closer inspection shows that the last trade of the day was more than 1.9m shares at 170p. Normally when such rogue trades appear it is a result of a trader accidentally typing in an extra digit — hence the rather un-PC "fat finger" — before executing a trade. The company's broker is looking into it.
Sudden sharp movements aside, a firm opening on Wall Street helped London's leading shares close up 114.73 points at 4,387.14 points after what was at times a confused day's trading.
Wall Street was up more than 130 points as London traders packed up for the weekend, having shrugged off weak domestic employment data. Some dealers had feared the figure for Americans forced out of work would be worse than the 240,000 reported for October.
Wall Street had, in fact, been higher at the opening but was dragged back somewhat by a dreadful quarterly update from General Motors.
British Airways was one of the day's biggest gainers, up 15.5p at 146p, after first half results that included a raised annual revenue target and a reiteration that the carrier will make a small profit this year.
Cable & Wireless managed a last-minute surge, closing up 6.7p at 134.7p, ahead of Monday's half-year results but Vodafone — also reporting next week — dipped 1.2p to 106.7p on fears that its results will include a weak outlook statement.
Down among the minnows, shares in Bakery Services, which despite its name is little more than a shell, having sold its operating businesses to go looking for operations in the business process outsourcing sector, lost 50% of their value after the company admitted that after months of talking with a potential target it has failed to do a deal and may have to wind itself up. Admittedly the shares were not worth an awful lot anyway. They closed at 0.06p.
At the other end of the Aim spectrum, shares in Sweet China, which manufactures and markets confectionery in China and Hong Kong, closed up 1p at 1.5p. Traders said a significant buyer had appeared late in the day snapping up stock for as much as 3.25p.
