City surge grinds to a halt as investors gather profits

THE London market's recent surge ground to a halt yesterday as investors gathered profits at the end of a three-day upward run.

The FTSE 100 Index fell 21.8 points to 4180.9 but managed to avoid more panic selling after US markets opened lower in the afternoon.

However, analysts continued to warn that conditions remained fragile, with shareholders on both sides of the Atlantic clearly keen to take profits.