Manic Monday buying is relief for the dealers

The dealers on the trading floor at IG Index, a financial spread-betting firm close to the Square Mile, were already on the phones, almost unable to keep up with the calls before the stock market even opened at 8am today.

A slew of market announcements from Britain's big banks from 7.30am onwards ensured this was a day to keep traders on their toes.

For a 24-hour period starting on Friday, IG made 3.3 deals per second. "We are expecting something similar today," declared Tim Hughes, IG's head of sales trading. Another dealer added: "70p Royal Bank of Scotland. It's ridiculous. You'll never see that price again."

As the stock market opened, traders peered at the bank of screens while the telephones rang off the hook. The noise just got louder and louder, not helped by an automated computerised voice sounding like the computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey chanting "excellent" about every five seconds.

This is IG's way of telling dealers that an internet trade needed attention before it could be sanctioned. The more the chant of ''excellent'' can be heard, the more deals IG is doing. All this noise, all this excitement what we were witnessing at 8am today was a huge outpouring of relief. But it may not last long in the current market volatility.

Jody Dunn, 28, IG's head of flow in charge of commodities and foreign exchange dealing - said: "It's a new dawn until the next crash. You don't know what is going to happen. We are still expecting a lot of volatility. I can see the market still moving around a lot today, up and down."

Mr Hughes, 30, said: "What we are getting now is indescribable relief. They do appear to be coordinating action from the corners of the world but how good can the news be when half of our remaining banks are going to be part-nationalised?

"The fact they [the banks] needed it is clearly dismal. It cannot be great long term. I expect many more weeks and months of turmoil."

By 8.15am, the stock market had gained five per cent, or 200 points. IG had been predicting a rise of as much as 270 but trading was still unclear this morning. Banks were in and out of suspension as markets tried to digest today's announcements. "This is the chaos," said Mr Hughes, as the phones rang non-stop around him.