The day’s most dramatic rises and falls were on AIM. Instore, owner of the Poundstretcher high street chain, jumped 1.75p to 9p each after the £16 million company more than halved its half-year pretax losses to £5.3 million after a restructuring. Numis Securities gave Instore a “buy” recommendation. But William Ransom saw 9½p knocked off its share price, which closed at 29p, after the natural healthcare company gave warning that trading in the first half had been “demanding”. Numis put the £32 million company on “hold”.

Concerns over the housing market continued to hold FTSE 250 mortgage lenders back. Paragon was the biggest faller, sliding 20p to 250p, while Bradford & Bingley continued its downward spiral. The company has lost-more than 20p from its stock in the past week and yesterday finished down 9½p at 258¼p.

COLT Telecom lost some of the gains it made on Thursday on the back of forecast-beating third-quarter earnings. Shares in the company closed 9.5p down at 173.5p.

WPP’s admission yesterday that its third-quarter revenue growth was at the lower end of forecasts affected advertising-dependent media companies. Emap dropped 30½p to 877p and GCap fell 7p to 185p.

The 570p-per-share bid approach from Carillion kept Alfred McAlpine at the top of the FTSE 250 risers yesterday. Two leading shareholders asked McAlpine to reconsider the offer. Shares in the company closed up 19p at 555p after Dresdner Kleinwort advised investors to take the money and run.

David S Smith Holdings, the pack-aging and office products manufacturer, was the FTSE 250’s second-biggest riser, up 11½p to 228p, after an upgrade to “neutral” by Goldman.

Aquarius Platinumwas 9p lower at £18.00 after spot platinum prices finished off their record of $1,454 per ounce hit during the day.

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