The FTSE 100 index finished the week above where it started – a feat that looked highly improbable after a dramatic sell-off in the opening session. The blue-chip benchmark tumbled more than 2 per cent or 164 points on Monday as fears over rising coronavirus cases sent markets around the world into a tailspin. But after bouncing back as the week wore on, it closed up another 0.9 per cent, or 59.28 points, to 7027.58. That will be a tonic for investors who feared the sharp sell-off at the start of the week set the scene for a summer of carnage on the stock market. But with Covid still posing a threat to the health of the nation and the economy, and inflation threatening to rear its ugly head, those fears will not have disappeared altogether.