In London on Monday the FTSE 100 fell 1.05 percent to 6,459.3 and the FTSE 250 dropped 1.07 percent to 11,177.9.

The biggest loser on the 100 was British Energy Group (LSE: BGY), which fell 8.12 percent to 532p on the news that two nuclear generators will be out of service longer than previously anticipated after new problems there.

Banks were lower.

Lloyds TSB (LSE: LLOY) was 1.2 percent lower to 530p, while Barclays Bank (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; TYO: 8642) was down 1.6 percent to 580p and Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS; NYSE: RBS PRM) dropped 1.7 percent to 502p.

Miners fell after base metals prices dropped.

BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT; ASX: BHP; NYSE: BHP) was down 3.9 percent to £17.64 and Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED) was 5.04 percent lower to £20.54, while Xstrata (LSE: XTA) also fell 5.04 percent to £36.20 and Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) dropped 5.15 percent to €14.55.

With crude oil prices also lower, Tullow Oil was down 5.79 percent to 585.5p.

Among gainers on the day, supermarket chain Wm Morrison (LSE: MRW) was up 1.62 percent to 297.25p while elsewhere in the retail sector Home Retail (LSE: HOME) added 1.81 percent to 380p.

Cruise line operator Carnival (LSE: CCL; NYSE: CCL) gained 1.61 percent to £22.68.

London’s markets were lower on Thursday.

The FTSE 100 was down 0.48 percent to 6,429 while the FTSE 250 was 1.1 percent lower to 11,013.8.

Retailers were mixed on the session, with J Sainsbury (LSE: SBRY) up 2.8 percent to 569p but DIY retailer Kingfisher (LSE: KFG) was down 5.88 percent to 181p and Home Retail (LSE: HOME) fell 5.38 percent to 373.75p.

The best day on the 100 came from cruise line operator Carnival (LSE: CCL; NYSE: CCL), which added 7.08 percent to £23.74.

Insurer Friends Provident (LSE: FP) was 4.24 percent higher to 174.7p, while in the mining sector Anglo American (LSE: AAL) gained 1.69 percent to £31.82 and Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) was up 1.9 percent to £14.50.

Northern Rock (LSE: NRK) turned in the worst performance on the 100 once again as it dropped 27.94 percent to 185.2p.

It was followed by Alliance & Leicester (LSE: AL) with a decline of 7.36 percent to 755.5p.

The London Stock Exchange (LSE: LSE) had the best day on the 250, gaining 16.10 percent to €16.87.

The oil sector saw advances.

Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE) was up 3.79 percent to £20, while Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW; OTC: TUWLY) added 4.37 percent to 573.5p.

The worst performance of the day on the 250 came from the leisure sector, where bar and restaurant operator Luminar (LSE: LMR) dropped 9.51 percent to 633p.

Mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley (LSE: BB) was down 8.61 percent to 299.75p, while public transport group Stagecoach (LSE: SGC) fell 5.85 percent to 225.5p.

London’s markets joined the global market slide on Friday as the FTSE 100 fell 3.71 percent to 6,038.3 and the FTSE 250 was down 2.88 percent to 10,889.5.

Again, financial services groups ended up lower on the day. Northern Rock (LSE: NRK) led the decliners on the 100 as it dropped 9.57 percent to 713.5p, while investment managers Rathbone Brothers (LSE: RAT) was the worst performer on the 250 with a decline of 12.02 percent to £11.57.

Insurer Resolution (LSE: RSL) fell 6.71 percent to 626p, while special risks insurer Beazley Group (LSE: BEZ) was 7.98 percent lower to 150p.

Hedge fund Man Group (LSE: EMG) was down 0.06 percent to 479.25p, while asset managers Henderson Group (LSE: HGI; ASX: HGI) dropped 9.43 percent to 139.25p.

Among gainers, Avis Europe (LSE: AVE) led the 250 with a gain of 15.91 percent to 51p, while cruise operator Carnival (LSE: CCL; NYSE: CCL; NYSEL CUK) was the best performer on the 100 as it added 0.54 percent to £22.44.

Food processors did well on the 100.

Tate & Lyle was up 0.18 percent to 549p, while Associated British Foods (LSE: ABF) gained 0.3 percent to 844p.

The oil sector did well on the 250.

Oil refiner and distributor Hunting (LSE: HTG) was 3.36 percent higher to 707.5p, while JKX Oil & Gas (LSE: JKX) was up 13.48 percent to 360p.

The London equities markets were mixed on the last full trading day before Christmas, with the FTSE 100 0.2 percent lower to 6,183.7 but the FTSE 250 adding 0.2 percent to 11,066.4. Volume was light, with around 2 billion shares trading hands.

Miners were hurt by dropping copper prices. Vedanta Resources dropped 16p to £11.77. Antofagasta fell 2.2 percent to 496½p, while Rio Tinto was 2.5 percent lower to £26.65 and Kazakhmys dropped 3.7 percent to £10.89.

British Energy fell 3.3 percent to 520½p after it said on Wednesday that two of its nuclear power stations will not be back in service until March. Citigroup reduced its rating on the company to “sell” and assigned a target share price of 430p. Elsewhere in the energy sector, Burren Energy dropped 5 percent to 840p after investors worried that the death of the president of Turkmenistan will put its interests there in jeopardy. Burren currently produces about 18,000 barrels of oil per day from its field there.

Smith & Nephew added 3.4 percent to 537¼p, its highest share price in nine months, on rumors that the group of private equity buyers that recent purchased US rival Biomet were also interested in bidding for S&N.

In the leisure sector, cruise ship operator Carnival was up 2.9 percent to £25.36 on a fourth quarter report that rose above what had been expected.

The London equities markets were mixed on Monday on slow trade in the run-up to Christmas. The FTSE 100 dropped 0.2 percent to 6,257.4, while the FTSE 250 was up a bare 1.7 points to 11,087.7, with less than 2.5 billion shares trading hands.

In the leisure sector, cruise ship operator Carnival added 2.2 percent to £25.04 as oil prices declined. Also helping was a repeated “buy” rating from Deutsche Bank.

Retailer Next benefited from an increased target share price and positive comments from Merrill Lynch. The clothing retailer was 1.3 percent higher to £18.14.

Smith & Nephew added 8.1 percent to 521¾p for the biggest gain on the 100 on the session. Merrill Lynch upgraded the orthopedics company to “buy” and put its target share price at 580p on the theory that it is a target for takeover after it lost its bid to purchase US company Biomet.

Oilfield services company Petrofac saw the largest gain on the 250, gaining 4.8 percent to 395¾p, a new record, after it said its profits for the year will hit the top of the range of expectations.

Losers incuded Cairn Energy, which dropped another 2.8 percent to £18.61 after its Indian IPO was less than successful, with shares riding in the bottom end of the range.

London’s equities markets were mixed on Friday. The FTSE 100 dropped 0.5 percent to close at 6,021.5 after falling as low as 5,985.2 during the day, bringing its decline over the week to 1.6 percent. On the other hand, the FTSE 250 added 0.2 percent on the session and was up by the same amount for the week, to close at 10,698.9.

Miners were higher, with Xstrata 2 percent higher to £23.26 and Antofagtasta adding 3.2 percent to 495p as Goldman Sachs predicted that commodities prices will be going up further. The broker put Xstrata on its “conviction buy” list.

Leisure group Rank dropped 2.9 percent to 270p after a rumored bid was not forthcoming and Citigroup downgraded it to “hold”. Meanwhile, cruise operator Carnival fell 1.9 percent to £24.29 on a reduced recommendation, from “buy” to “hold”, from Merrill Lynch.

In the pharmaceuticals sector, AstraZeneca dropped 2.1 percent to £28.90 as sterling gained ground over the US dollar.

Among insurance companies, Legal & General fell 2.2 percent to 148½p as bids rumors faded.

Construction materials group Hanson was 1.4 percent lower to 719p.

Bucking the trend among the blue-chips, Cairn Energy added 4.4 percent to £20.57. Cairn is preparing to spin off its India unit with an initial public offering in Bombay later this month. That IPO is estimated to be worth as much as $7.5 billion (£3.8 billion). In addition, there was talk that Cairn’s Indian partner, ONGC, might be interested in acquiring Cairn’s assets in Rajasthan.

Equities markets in London were higher on Tuesday, spurred on by earnings reports and a strong opening in New York. The FTSE 100 added 0.7 percent to 5,895.5, while the FTSE 250 was 0.9 percent higher to 9,605.5.

With miners lower again on dropping commodities prices, some investors were switching into telecommunications and technology stocks. Sage, which produces accountancy software, added 2.2 percent to 247¼p. Among telecoms, Vodafone was 2.4 percent higher to 117½p. Vodafone was also helped for a second day by Telecom Italia’s move to divest itself of its mobile phone business.

In the steel sector, Corus was up 2.2 percent to 375¾p on positive comments from UBS.

Cruise ship operator Carnival added 3.6 percent to £24.33 on rumors that results from the summer quarter will meet analyst predictions. Part of this talk was based the fact that rival Royal Caribbean has upped its predictions for its summer results. In addition, analysts figure that a quiet hurricane season might have increased bookings.

The media sector was mixed. ITV was down by 2.2 percent to 98¾p as it seemed that advertising revenues for ITV1 could be as much as 20 percent lower in October. In addition, Cazenove repeated its “underperform” rating based on less spending by advertisers. However UTV, which owns Northern Ireland’s ITV franchise, added 1.1 percent to 370¾p.

The FTSE 100 closed down by 0.4 percent to 5,906.1 in London on Thursday, but the FTSE 250 added 0.2 percent to 9,601.2.

The oil sector saw gains on the day despite crude oil prices that were lower again after initial gains on the session. Premier Oil added 1.8 percent to £10.30 on talk that it could receive a bid from Pemex of Mexico. Cairn Energy was 3.1 percent higher to £21.32 ahead of the release of its half-year results next week. Tullow Oil gained 3.7 percent to 392¼p on reconfirmation of Deutsche Bank’s “buy” recommendation. In addition, oil services group Hunting was up 9.3 percent to 448p.

Among miners, Antofagasta managed a gain of 4 percent to 465½p on a gain in the price of copper.

Cruise ship operator Carnival added 2.9 percent on the session to £22.53 after a reiteration of Morgan Stanley’s “overweight” rating and on the news that Royal Caribbean’s earnings were up in its third quarter. This is somewhat of a comeback for Carnival, which was down 30 percent on the year so far.

Also staging a comeback was EMI, which has been in the doldrums since talks with Warner Music toward a merger were derailed in July. EMI added 2.4 percent to 267¾p on an upgrade to “outperform” from Cazenove, which cited the value of EMI’s back catalogue in light of the auction of BMG’s music publishing unit.

After Monday’s holiday, London markets resumed trade on Tuesday with slightly higher volumes of 2.2 billion shares traded and small gains in both the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250. The 100 added 0.17 percent to 5,888.3 after going as high as 5,921.3 earlier in the session, while the 250 was 0.4 percent higher to 9,531.8

Airlines and cruise ship operators benefited from declining oil prices, which dropped below $70 dollars per gallon. Cruise ship operator Carnival added 2.6 percent to £21.74. Among airlines, British Airways was up 4 percent to 414¼p and EasyJet gained 4.5 percent to 454½p.

Brewers were up on the day as well. Diageo added 0.1 percent to 945p ahead of its full-year report, due on Thursday. SABMiller gained 0.6 percent to £10.13. Both were said to be interested in bidding for Australian drinks company Foster’s.

Another of the day’s gainers was plumber and buildings materials group Wolseley, which added 2.2 percent to £10.89 ahead of an interim report due next month. The gains came after Wolseley lost a quarter of its value recently.

Among losers on the day was MFI Furniture Group, which dropped 4.2 percent to 85p on reports that the sale of its losing retail business in the UK ahs run into problems. Also lower was coal-fueled power station operator Drax, down 1.8 percent to 902p.

In London’s equities markets on Thursday, the FTSE 100 was up, but only by 3.8 points to 5,900.4 and the FTSE 250 added 0.4 percent to 9,486.6 as miners and airlines saw advances but the oil sector was mostly lower.

Dropping crude oil prices sent shares in air carriers up as British Airways added 2.7 percent to 293p and EasyJet was 3 percent higher to 425½p. Lower costs for oil also helped cruise operators, as Carnival gained 6.4 percent to £21.72.

The oil sector, on the other hand, saw losses on the day as both Royal Dutch Shell and BG Group fell 1 percent, to £19.17 and 708p respectively. The exception was Cairn Energy, which added 3 percent to £20.80 on Merrill Lynch’s repeated “buy” recommendation, which cited the IPO of Cairn’s India operations as likely to send share prices higher.

Bids rumors sent the mining sector higher. Anglo American added 2 percent to £24.20 as Morgan Stanley commented that mergers and acquisitions are driving the sector and raised the miner’s recommendation from “underweight” to “overweight”. Meanwhile, Vedanta Resources gained 3.1 percent to £13.83 on positive comments from Goldman Sachs.

M & A rumors also sent Corus Group up by 3.2 percent to 407½p with the talk that Evraz and Severstal are both looking at offering for the steel maker.

Among loser on the day was SAB Miller, which dropped 2.9 percent to £10.40 when UBS lowered their recommendation on the brewer from “buy” to “neutral”.