The FTSE 100 climbed to another near five-year high yesterday as the index marked its third anniversary since the bottom of the bear market that followed the dotcom crash.

The index, which began shortly before the US invaded Iraq, has since risen 81.1 per cent. Yesterday’s 44.9 point rise to 5,952.8 took the benchmark index to its highest level since May 2001.

There are indications there could be further gains in the coming days, even if the market consensus is that the index will struggle to make further headway as the year progresses.