The London equities markets were mixed on Friday as the FTSE 100 closed lower after a brief journey above the 6,000 level but the FTSE 250 ended the day higher. The 100 dropped 0.2 percent on the session to 5,960.8, while the 250 added 0.2 percent to 9,996.8 after going above 10,000 for a short time during the day.
Construction materials company Hanson was 3.7 percent higher on the day to 773½p on positive analyst comments and bids rumors.
Politics resulted in declines in the mining sector as populist opposition leader, Michael Sata, seemed ready to claim victory in an election in Zambia. With major operations in Zambia, Vedanta Resources dropped 2.5 percent to €11.63 on Mr. Sata’s declaration that he will be tough on foreign ownership of copper in that country.
The banking sector was mixed. While Royal Bank of Scotland added 1.5 percent to £18.39 on an upgrade from “neutral” to “overweight” from JPMorgan, Standard Chartered dropped 2.1 percent to £13.68 after it said it would place shares in order to raise £1.2 billion to purchase a bank in Taiwan.
British Energy was 1.6 percent lower to 580½p as it cut its output forecast and as investors worried about inspections and repairs to two of its nuclear power generators ahead of a scheduled explanation of the issue on Monday.