- guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 3 August 1999 15.22 BST
Where the United States goes the United Kingdom tends to follow, and the London market appears to be embarking on its very own internet boom.
Yesterday it was the turn of gameplay.com to dazzle. The shares raced to a closing price of 220p on their first day, a 63%premium on the 135p issue price.
A volume of 659,000 shares were traded, although totals for Aim shares are not usually available for several days. Brokers indicated that total volume amounted to a much greater percentage of the 23m shares in free float.
Gameplay's debut coincided with the first day of unconditional dealing for leading service provider Freeserve, which floated last week. With the share certificates now issued, many observers reckoned - incorrectly as it turned out - that Freeserve would suffer, but they finished 6p better at 243p.
Fellow internet service provider Easynet also shone, and proved that internet service providers can turn a profit - just. Turnover rose 80% in the six months to June to just under £13m, taking net earnings to £150,000.
This time last year, Easynet recorded a near-£500,000 loss. The Aim-listed shares rose 30p to 695p. Over on Ofex the internet service provider, Totalise, continued its ascent, gaining another 4p to 30p on relatively healthy volume of 715,000. The issue hit the market last week at a price of 20p.
Another tiny ISP, Affinity Internet Holdings, made waves with a foray into virtual shopping. Affinity unveiled a deal with the private company, Taxi Interactive, whereby Taxi will offer a free personal shopping service to Affinity users allowing them access to 700 producers. Affinity shares, which are also traded on Aim, rose by 16p to 215p.
Media group Chrysalis maintains a stake in Taxi and is thought to be closely involved in the day-to-day running of the company. Chrysalis shares were unchanged at 770p.
