By Jon Hitchin, Hargreave Hale & Co THE LAST few months on the stock market have been somewhat depressing for many people, especially those with large holdings in the technology sector.

After the market having a terrific run in 1999 and early 2000, with the FTSE 100 reaching a peak of 6930 on January , the market collapsed with the FTSE hitting its year low, 5915, on April 17.

The market has struggled ever since and at the time of writing the FTSE 100 stands at 6100.

However, according to the investment banks there is hope, as most expect a rally towards the end of the year. For example, Morgan Stanley, having forecast the FTSE to reach 7500 earlier in the year, have revised their target to 6900.

Most optimistic though is JP Morgan, who have put their bets on the market topping the 7000 level. They also predict the FTSE will reach 7500 by the end of 2001.

Kleinwort Benson expect the FTSE to be around the 6800 level by the end of this year, though suggest the market may go down before it goes up, perhaps testing the all-important 6000 level.

They all agree that most of the forecasted rises will occur in late November and December. History suggests that they could well be right.

Out of the last 10 years, the market has risen between October and December on seven occasions, with the biggest surge usually occurring in the final two weeks of the year.

Why the optimism though? With problems in the Middle East, rising oil prices and a slowdown in the US economy, coupled with imminent US elections, the outlook doesn't exactly look too rosy to many.

There are several reasons for the forecasts made by the investment banks.

Perhaps most importantly, many people feel the market rose too dramatically last year and that the necessary fall to compensate has been overdone.

Secondly, the pound is expected to weaken, though many feel that interest rates may rise a little in the short term.

Thirdly the continuing rise in consumption is likely to boost the market.

On a slightly more sceptical note, the tracker funds have obviously all performed poorly this year and so it is expected that fund managers will pile in towards the end of the year, hence boosting the markets and therefore, more importantly, making their performances look more respectable.

Given the volatility over the last few months, it has to be said that predicting movements in the markets has become near impossible. Therefore I would approach the predictions with a degree of caution.

Have you ever noticed an investment bank predict a fall in the market, because I haven't!