London’s equities markets were higher on Thursday.

The FTSE 100 was up 1.45 percent to 6,576.3, while the FTSE 250 jumped 1.79 percent to 11,480.5. As in Europe, telecoms topped the gainers.

Vodafone (LSE: VOD; NYSE: VOD; FWB: VOD) added 6.45 percent to 189.7p after France Telecom (Euronext: FTE; NYSE: FTE) announced its better than anticipated results.

Retailers also saw gains.

Home Retail (LSE: HOME) was higher on the 100, up 5.03 percent to 412.75, while over on the 250 department store chain Debenhams (LSE: DEB) gained 6.9 percent to 112.25p.

Online gambler PartyGaming (LSE: PRTY) was the best performer on the 250, where it added 13.64 percent to 31.25p.

Insurers were mixed on the session, with Old Mutual (LSE: OML; JSE: OLOML) 5 percent higher to 178.6p but Standard Life (LSE: SLET) down 1.25 percent to 276.25p.

Other losers included house builder and property developer Barratt Developments (LSE: BDEV), which dropped 1.81 percent to 650p.

In the banking sector, Alliance & Leicester (LSE: AL) was down 2.99 percent to 729.5p.

Capita Group (LSE: CPI) had the worst day on the 100, falling 5.53 percent to 700p on the news that it will lose handling of London’s congestion charge to IBM (NYSE: IBM) beginning in 2009.

London equities markets were lower on Wednesday, with the FTSE 100 down 0.2 percent to 6,204.5 and the FTSE 250 down 0.3 percent to 11,094.6. Volume was at an active 3.5 billion shares traded on the session.

The retail sector was widely mixed. J Sainsbury was 0.6 percent higher to 427p on rumors that a group of Icelandic investors had bought a stake of nearly 3 percent in the supermarket.

On the other hand, department store Debenhams was 0.4 percent lower to 170¼p after going as low as 168¾p earlier in the session on rumors that an investor has taken advantage of low its low share price to build a stake. A volume of 40 million shares in the company changing hands on Tuesday and 33 million more shares traded on Wednesday added substance to the rumors.

Electrical retailer DSG International, meanwhile, fell 12 percent to 171p on a trading statement that disappointed.

Publishers had a good day. Reed Elsevier gained 0.4 percent to 598½p, while Pearson was up 3 percent to 824½p after it was said that private equity group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts might be interested.

In the oil sector, Royal Dutch Shell dropped 0.2 percent to £17.11 on the low price of oil.

SABMiller added 4.7 percent for the best performance on the 100, trading at £12.26. The brewer’s fiscal third quarter figures were better than had been anticipated.

In London on Monday, the FTSE 100 was 1.2 percent lower to 6,050.1, its lowest close since early October and its largest one day percentage decline since the end of September. Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 also declined, dropping 0.9 percent to 10,493.6.

The retail sector saw declines on slow sales for clothing retailers due to mild weather so far this autumn. Debenhams dropped 1 percent to 194p, while Next fell 2 percent to £17.94. Rumors have underlying sales at Next down by up to 20 percent year-on-year.

In the steel sector, Corus was 1 percent lower to 499½p on worries that pension fund trustees might hold up merger talks with CSN of Brazil. Elsewhere, concerns that the government of Saudi Arabia might pull out of deal to buy 72 Eurofighter planes sent BAE Systems down 3.1 percent to 391p/

The 250 was saved from further declines by advances in the homebuilders sector when Wilson Bowden gained 14.6 percent to £20.98 after it said it has received several takeover inquiries. The mid-caps index was also helped by the news that First Choice Holidays is talking about selling its package tour operations to My Travel. My Travel was 7.1 percent higher to 214p, while First Choice gained 12 percent to 257p.

Both the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 were lower in London on Wednesday. The 100 dropped 0.7 percent to 5,860.0, while the 200 was 0.4 percent lower to 9.454.2.

Miners were mixed on the session. Anglo American fell 3.6 percent to £23.80 after its shares went ex-dividend, while BHP Billiton dropped 4 percent to £10.14 on a weak annual report. Xstrata, however, added 0.7 percent to £22.65 after it was said that it might not have to resort to a huge rights issue in order to fund its purchase of Canadian miner Falconbridge.

High raw materials costs were blamed for the 1.5 percent decline to 511p for drinks can manufacturer Rexam, which uses aluminium in its products. The retreat came ahead of an earnings report scheduled to be released later today.

In the retail sector, Debenhams was 1.8 percent lower to 179½p on rumors that clothing sales are down for the department stores group.

Bucking the general trend downward was Regal Petroleum. The oil exploration group added 5.6 percent to 118p on news that the company’s legal woes in the Ukraine might be on the way to being solved as well as on the possibility of good news from its current exploration project in Egypt.