Yesterday's trading in London

THE City of London is no longer a social desert after 7pm. The days when dealers had to decamp to the West End to chill out after a 10-hour slog in the office are long gone.

All the entertainment is now on their doorstep. Late-night bars, restaurants and nightclubs within the Square Mile are thriving. None more so than Abacus, a new establishment with a nightclub and three bars in Cornhill, opposite the Bank of England.

Opened in February by Tiger Tiger bar and nightclubs group Urbium and benefiting from a 2am licence on Thursday and Friday nights, it is always heaving.

Urbium boogied 5 1/2p to 564p after chairman John Conlan took to the floor at yesterday's agm and said buoyant trading at Abacus had helped the current year get off to a flying start. Total sales in the first quarter are ahead of last year and well ahead of expectations.

The group's objective of securing a significant market share in the City of London will be boosted by next month's opening of Agenda in Mincing Lane and Context at Finsbury Square.

House broker Numis, whose staff have VIP passes for Abacus, rates the stock a strong buy. Analyst Andrew Saunders forecasts 2004 pretax profits of £11.25m, up from £9.35m, rising to £13.04m in 2005. His target price is 650p.

The Footsie's tempo was slow. Many market operators extended their Easter holiday. Up at 35.3 points at one stage, it closed 26.1 points better at 4515.8.

Best levels in London were not held because Wall Street lost an initial 36-point rise, which followed betterthanexpected US retail sales data and forecastbusting first-quarter figures from Johnson & Johnson, to trade more than 150 points lower at one stage.

Dealers said the 1.8% rise in US retail sales in March - the fastest growth in 12 months - and recent strong jobs data confirms the robust health of the US economy. It also means the Fed is more likely to raise US interest rates - possibly in August - well before the Presidential elections in November.

As the dollar surged on the retail sales data, sterling slumped to $1.8167, while the euro eased to 65.6p and $1.1923.

Renewed tracker fund interest following last week's admission into the Footsie helped bookmaker William Hill gallop 15 1/2p ahead to 532 1/2p.

Fashion group Burberry advanced 17 1/2p to 372 1/2p on gossip that today's trading statement will be upbeat.

Former chairman Ian Gregg's sale of 13,650 shares as a gift left baker and sandwich maker Greggs flat as a pancake at 3415p, down 55p.

Rocked by the recent profit warning, security group Reliance shed a further 32 1/2p in a thin market to 570p. Small investors ran for the exit on hearing reports that it was the firm which let convicted murderer James McCormick walk free from a Scottish court after he duped guards by swapping papers with another prisoner.

After wheeling out a five-year, £10m deal with BAA, TripleArc rose 2 1/2p to 18 3/4p. TripleArc will manage the printing requirements for BAA's seven UK airports and corporate headquarters.

Palladex jumped 2 3/4p to 26p after the State Agency for Geology and Mineral Resources of the Kyrgyz Republic substantially extended its licence area in Karakala.

Imagination Technologies rose 4 1/4p to 110 3/4p following news its PowerVR cores will be used in Intel's 2700G multimedia accelerator, a graphics and video processor.

Placed on Aim at 113p by Evolution Group, shares of upmarket kitchen maker Omega International closed at 120 1/2p, a tasty premium of 7 1/2p.

Reflecting a 15% rise in net asset value to 34p-plus a share, property development and investment group Terrace Hill rose 2p to 27 3/4p.

Knowledge Technology Solutions edged up 1/4p to 9 5/8p ahead of the launch on 20 May of MarketTerminalTM, its international financial news and data product.

STANELCO, which makes biodegradable packaging, improved 3/8p to 5 5/8p. Buyers reappeared amid revived whispers of a contract with a big supermarket chain. It has been working with J Sainsbury on food trays made from potato starch that are created using radio frequency heat treatment and then moulded. Dealers expect the stock to be re-rated once, as expected, it wins a court battle over patents with Bio-Progress.