Investors hope that share mini-revival will last

Investors are today clinging to the hope that last week’s mini shares revival marked the start of brighter times for leading stocks.

The FTSE 100 Index pulled back from a six year low to gain more than 200 points during dramatic sessions on Thursday and Friday.

Signs of a strengthening UK economy and the introduction of measures to combat accountancy fraud in the US helped the performance.

But analysts remain nervous and will enter today’s session with the memory of the last two Black Mondays when share prices fell heavily.

A strong close to trading on Wall Street on Friday should give London investors some hope of a positive start but Alex Scott, equities analyst at Seven Investment Management, said he believed the pain was not yet over.

‘‘I think it is probably still optimistic to say we have passed the worst,’’ he said.

‘‘I think there is a possibility that at some stage during the summer the market could make reasonable gains for a time - ie 10% to 15%, but I’m not convinced it will hold.’’

The market has been the most volatile in recent memory and on Friday was sharply lower until a recovery late in the session.

On Wednesday, the massive swings saw the market slump to 3777.1 - its lowest since August 2 1996 - only to soar the next day to clock up its best one-day rally in a decade.