In a week shortened by a Monday holiday, the London equities markets ended up for both the day and the week. The FTSE 100 added 0.7 percent on Friday and 1.2 percent for the week to close at 5,949.1, while the FTSE 250 gained 1.1 percent for the day and 2.2 percent over the week to 9,702.1.

The oil sector was mixed. Premier Oil was 2.8 percent higher to £10.59 as rumors continued that Royal Dutch Shell would bid £13 per share. The talk, however, sent shares in Royal Dutch Shell 0.2 percent lower to £18.77.

Steelmaker Corus added 1.8 percent to 399½p on talk from Cazenove that it was a bids target. Meanwhile, in the mining sector, Xstrata gained 2.9 percent to £24.27 on a reiteration of Deutsche Bank’s “buy” recommendation.

Among banks, Barclays was 2.4 percent higher to 673½p on the news that its new chairman-designate bought £100,000 worth of the bank’s shares on his first day on the job.

Retailers were mixed. Next dropped 0.6 percent to £16.57 on rumors that interim results, due later in the month, could fall short of expectations. On the other hand, Marks & Spencer added 2.1 percent to 605p.

ITV was up, but only by 0.2 percent to 106p, as investors worried about declines in advertising and after a number of programs did not deliver much in the way of viewership. Comments from Bear Stearns did not inspire confidence that advertising would rebound anytime soon.

British Airways was 1.9 percent higher to 377p in London on Monday as the government in the UK lowered its alert level from “critical” to “severe” after the arrest last week of a number of individuals who were said to have planned to bomb flights from London to the United States. The gain helped the FTSE 100 add 0.8 percent to 5,870.9 and the FTSE 250 to gain 0.5 percent to 9,303.9. Volume was extremely low at fewer than 2 billion shares traded on the session.

After a 10 percent decline on Friday, fund manager Schroders was 6.5 percent higher to 929p.

Among banks, Lloyds TSB was up by 1.5 percent to 514½p as Goldman Sachs took Lloyds off its “conviction sell” list but still maintined its “sell” recommendation. Meanwhile, Merrill Lynch added Barclays to its list of top picks and reiterated its target share price of 878p. Barclays was up 2.1 percent to 649p on the session.

Shares in property companies were up, led by British Land, up 1.1 percent to £13.75 ahead of quarterly results due on Tuesday.

Among decliners on the day was BT Group, which was 0.9 percent lower to 240½p after a downgrade by Cazenove from “outperform” to “inline” following on a profits warning issued last week by Deutsche Telekom. Also down on the day was PartyGaming, which dropped 3.5 percent to 105¼p.

Both the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 were lower in London on Tuesday. Among the circumstances leading to the declines were word of terrorist bombings in Mumbai and a slow start for the markets in New York. The FTSE 100 dropped 0.6 percent to 5,857.3, while the FTSE 250 fell by 0.7 percent to 9,320.3.

Companies with exposure in India were hurt by news that terrorists had bombed several train stations and trains in Mumbai, with considerable loss of life. Vedanta Resources declined by 1.6 percent to £13.70, while Cairn Energy was down 2.3 percent to £20.85 and Standard Chartered dropped 2.7 percent to £12.87.

There were big losses in the semiconductor sector, as Wolfson Microelectronics fell 13.2 percent to 386¼p, for the largest decline on the 250, on speculation that its second-quarter report could contain less than positive news. Elsewhere in the sector, wireless chip designer CSR declined by 7.5 percent to £11.

Among banks, Barclays lost 1.4 percent to 609p on rumors that it has received a broker downgrade due to slow growth in its investment banking unit.

There were few stocks in the black for the day. In the retail sector, Marks & Spencer added 0.3 percent to 585p on a first-quarter trading update that was in line with expectations. Pubs group Enterprise Inns gained 0.4 percent to 958p, while Scottish & Southern Energy gained 0.7 percent to £11.80.

The London equities markets were lower on Friday, but the FTSE 100 gained 1 percent over the week and managed to close out the week above the 6,000 level. The 100 was down 0.3 percent Friday to 6,026.1, while the FTSE 250 also lost 0.3 percent to 9,923.1.

The oil sector saw gains on the day. BP added 1.3 percent to 681½p. Royal Dutch Shell was up 0.5 percent to £19.20. Among mid-caps, JKX Oil & Gas gained 10.4 percent to 352p. The gains came on a UBS upgrade of the sector from “neutral” to “overweight”.

Energy stocks were down, however, again on remarks from UBS. Scottish & Southern Energy lost 2.3 percent to £11.30, while Scottish Power and British Energy were each down 1.7 percent, to 576p and 682p respectively.

Miners gained on soaring metals prices. Kazakhmys added 11.3 percent during the week to £12.00. Antofagasta was up 5.4 percent to £22.35. Rio Tinto gained 4.9 percent to £30.65.

Among banks, Barclays was up 2.2 percent on Friday to 701p on talk that Citigroup, newly freed by the US Federal Reserve of New York to make large deals, might be interested in bidding for the UK bank.

Shire Pharmaceuticals was up 0.5 percent to 876½p after the US Food and Drug Administration approved its Daytrana patch for the treatment of attention deficit disorder.

London equities markets were in record territory again on Thursday as the FTSE 100 established another five-year high when it closed up slightly to 6,045.7 and the FTSE 250 added 0.2 percent to end at another all-time high. Volume was at 3.6 billion shares traded.

Utilities ere up after Deutsche Bank issued positive comments on British Energy, which gained 2.4 percent to 694p. National Grid gained 1.1 percent to 578½p, while International Power added 1.3 percent to 291¾p.

Deutsche Bank also helped Corus with an upgraded recommendation, from “hold” to “buy” and a target share price increase from 80p to 100p. The steel maker added 2.6 percent to 89¼p. In other metals, high prices helped copper miner Kazakhmys add 3.1 percent to £12.69. Platinum company Johnson Matthey advanced by 4.9 percent to £15.10.

The banking sector was mixed on bid news. Decreasing talk of an offer took Allaince & Leicester down 2.8 percent to £11.61, but Barclays was up 1.2 percent to 686p on new rumors that Citigroup is considering a bid.

Vodafone added 0.6 percent to 124½p on speculation that the mobile phone group was thinking about entering the fixed line telecommunications market.

In the insurance sector, Prudential gained 4 percent to 677 ½ p on talk that Axa might make a bid. Analysts were mixed on exactly how serious the rumors were, with some saying that some investors could gain on the mere speculation that an offer might be forthcoming.

The online gaming sector was up after indications that efforts in the US to make gambling online illegal were not gathering a great deal of support. PartyGaming added 10 percent to 142½p, while 888 Holdings gained 8.6 percent to 240p and Sportingbet was up 10.6 percent to 421p.

The London equities markets were mixed on Tuesday, with the FTSE 100 down and the FTSE 250 a bit higher, but the 100 still managed to close above the 6000 level, ending the session at 6,004.7 for a loss of 0.3 percent on the day. The FTSE 250, meanwhile, added 0.1 percent to 9,892.3.

Pharmaceuticals were down after UBS downgraded GlaxoSmithKline and instead recommended AstraZeneca. GSM lost 1.5 percent to £15.00, while AstraZeneca dropped 0.2 percent to £29.00.

With crude oil prices falling on the day, shares in oil companies were down as well. BP declined by 1.5 percent to 664½p in anticipation of a trading update due tomorrow.

Banks were lower after it was reported that the New York Federal Reserve has ended a ban on any large mergers by Citigroup. The announcement led to rumors that Citigroup might look for a deal in the UK. Three possible targets - Barclays, Lloyds TSB, and Royal Bank of Scotland - all closed lower. Northern Rock was lower, as well, down 0.9 percent to £11.65 on a downgrade from “outperform” to “inline” from Fox-Pitt, Kelton.

Tate & Lyle declined by 1.9 percent to 564½p on worries that its artificial sweetener Splenda might not be safe. The concerns were caused by a US lobbying group that asked the Food and Drug Administration to rescind its approval of the sweetener. T&L defended its product.

Among gainers on the day were copper miner Kazakhmys, up 5.8 percent to £11.81, a record high share price. Meanwhile, retailer Marks & Spencer added 1.5 percent to 564½p.

Water companies were up as well. Pennon added 2.3 percent to £13.54 on the report that Severn Trent will spin off its waste management business. Severn Trent was also up, by 6.3 percent to £11.97.

London’s equities markets were mixed this week, with the FTSE 100 up 0.8 percent but the FTSE 250 sliding 0.4 percent over the five sessions. However, both indices were up on Friday, with the FTSE 100 gaining 0.9 percent on the day to 5,907.9 and the FTSE 250 up 0.5 percent to 9,430.1 on a volume of 3 billion shares traded. It was the first time the 100 had closed above the 5,900 mark in almost five years.

Bid talk drove much of the movement in individual companies. Cairn Energy was up 2.3 percent higher on the day to £19.15 on hopes that India’s ONGC would make a bid for Cairn’s assets there. Conversely, doubts that a private equity group would bid for BT sent the telecommunication company’s shares down 1.3 percent to 224½p.

Airports operator BAA gained 5 percent to 814p on new rumors that Ferrovial would bid for it after all, just a day after it suffered losses when it seemed that the Spanish company had decided not to make a bid, even though it had said earlier that it was interested.

Anglo American ended the day 0.3 percent higher to £19.78 despite earlier losses after Morgan Stanley cut the miner’s rating to “underweight” from “overweight”.

The banking sector saw gains on lessened concerns over inflation. Lloyds TSB was up 0.9 percent to 535½p, while Barclay’s gained 2.1 percent to 660½p.