A GOOD week both locally and nationally bought a little festive cheer to investors.

Reversing the trend of recent weeks, the FTSE 100 powered ahead of the Manchester Evening News/Brewin Dolphin Index, rising 3.1 per cent, compared to a 1.57 per cent increase among the 50 biggest north west listed companies.

Brewin Dolphin analyst Julian Hardiman said the reason for this was a recovery in confidence on Wall Street, which lifted markets globally.

He says: ''A bullish US market provided the impetus needed to push the FTSE 100 higher with technology, media and telecommunication stocks driving the market as they regained support from fund managers.''

Two of the region's smaller companies, Macclesfield's API Group and biotechnology company Protherics were top of the pile in terms of risers in the week. API rose 17.69 per cent from 65p to 78.5p. Director share buying boosted the stock.

Protherics, a biotech company which is beginning to reap the dividend of its science, rose 11.86 per cent from 29.5p to 33p as its interim results were well received by the market. N Brown, one of Manchester's corporate giants, and the recently-crowned Manchester Evening News Business of the Year, also saw healthy growth in the value of the stock.

Hopes of a bumper Christmas sent the catalogue retail company up 10,94 per cent from 265 to 290p.

Granada began to recover after a tough period, rising 9.93 per cent from 141p to 155p as media stocks recovered.

Major faller on the week was Vimto manufacturer Nichols, falling 7.73 per cent on a trading statement which warned of lower profits.