The FTSE 100 dropped 0.37 percent on Friday to end the week at 6,208.4 in a week where at least some stocks in the UK were affected by the elections in the United States on Tuesday.

The pharmaceuticals sector declined in the wake of the Democratic takeover of both houses of Congress on the concern that drug prices could be affected by legislation promised by House speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi to allow direct governmental negotiation of drug prices for recipients of Medicare. GlaxoSmithKline dropped 1.8 percent to £13.61, while AstraZeneca was 2.8 percent lower to £30.03.

Utilities were lower on speculation about takeovers in the sector after Scottish Power said that it had been approached by Spain’s Iberdrola. International Power dropped 1.6 percent to 338¼p, while Severn Trent was 1.7 percent lower to £14.03.

Among the mid-caps, homebuilder Crest Nicholson was 8.9 percent higher to 622½p after it rejected an offer from a group that included the Bank of Scotland.

Miners were higher on positive broker comments and bids rumors. Anglo American added 2.8 percent to £25.56 after one of the richest men in China bought a 1.1 percent stake in the miner, raising speculation that there could be a bid for the company out of China. Lonmin added 8.6 percent to £33.55 after Morgan Stanley raised its target share price to £40.

The London equities markets were higher on Wednesday on gains in the tobacco and oil sectors. The oil sector was higher after US inventory numbers showed that stockpiles of crude oil, gasoline, and heating oil were all lower last week. The FTSE 100 added 0.5 percent to 6,214.6 percent, while the FTSE 250 gained 0.2 percent to close at 10,425.4, another new record.

Imperial Tobacco Group was 1.6 percent higher to £18.55 ahead of its full-year report, due next week. British American Tobacco, which is scheduled to release its third quarter report later on Wednesday, added 2.5 percent to £14.82 on strong results from Reynolds American. BAT holds 42 percent of Reynolds, which also learned that a US appeals court on the federal level will hear arguments concerning whether a case looking for $200 billion from tobacco companies can be conducted as a class action suit. Meanwhile, Gallaher gained 3.1 percent to 884½p on bids rumors and positive comments.

The pharmaceuticals sector was mixed after UBS upgraded the sector to “overweight”. GlaxoSmithKline added 1.5 percent to £15.11 ahead of the announcement of its third quarter results, but AstraZeneca fell 1.2 percent to £35.92.

Chipmaker Wolfson Microelectronics added 6.4 percent to 287¼p on a perceived vulnerability to bids and on an upgrade to “buy” from Bridgewell Securities. Meanwhile, software maker Misys added 2.4 percent to 205p on the news that an activist group of investors from the US had taken a 4.4 percent stake in the company and on a reiteration of a “buy” recommendation from UBS.

London equities markets were lower on Thursday, mainly on declines in financial sectors. The FTSE 100 dropped 0.2 percent to 6,136.5. Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 was 18.6 points lower to 10,323.1.

Losers among financial institutions included HSBC, down 0.8 percent to £10.05. Also lower were Northern Rock, which fell 0.9 percent to £11.91 and Bradford & Bingley, 1.5 percent lower to 466p. Alliance & Leicester dropped 1.8 percent to £11.09. Ironically, life assurer Prudential, which sent the sector lower when it blamed its predicted losses in the second half on a loss in its internet bank, Egg, itself added 0.9 percent on the day to 635p.

In the tobacco sector, Imperial Tobacco was 0.4 percent lower to £18.24 on a downgrade from “buy” to “neutral” from Goldman Sachs.

The oil sector was lower even in the face of expected cuts in production from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Companies. Royal Dutch Shell dropped 0.6 percent to £18.14, while BP fell 1 percent to 595p.

Vodafone declined 0.6 percent to 128p on news from the European telecommunications sector. Nokia was down on the session, and there were worries that an offer from Telefonica to not charge for incoming calls to customers traveling in Europe could set off a tariff war.

The pharmaceuticals sector saw advances as GlaxoSmithKline added 1 percent to £14.90 and AstraZeneca was 1.5 percent higher to £34.74, its highest share price in nearly five years.

The London equities markets were mixed on Monday, with the FTSE 100 adding 0.5 percent to 6,030.9 but the FTSE 250 dropping 0.2 percent to 10, 152.3.

The pharmaceuticals sector was higher on the session. Glaxo-Smith-Kline gained 0.6 percent to £14.54 on talk that it is engaged in discussions with Novartis concerning a merger. Shire added 14.9 percent for the best performance among blue-chips, to £10.08 when the Food and Drug Administration in the United States approved its NRP104 treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder for use there.

Media companies didn’t have nearly so good a day. Reed Elsevier dropped 1 percent to 588½p on rumors that a profits warning is forthcoming. EMI fell 1.9 percent to 264¾p in anticipation of a less than encouraging trading update due next week. ITV, meanwhile, was 2.2 percent lower to 100¼p when UBS lowered its advertising growth prediction for the broadcaster, removed it from its “buy” list, and cut its earnings per share forecast for both this year and next.

Homebuilders were mixed, with Redrow up 1.4 percent to 630p but Barratt Developments 1.6 percent lower to £10.98 as rumors that Barratt is interested in a takeover of Redrow continued to ciruclate.

In the steel sector, Corus added 2.7 percent to 494p on reports that Tata Steel of India could be close to an offer worth £5 billion.

Marks and Spencer was 1.3 percent higher to 662½p, near a record high, on positive comments and an increased target share price from Morgan Stanley.

Equities markets in London were up on Wednesday, with the FTSE 100 adding 0.9 percent to 5,932.1 and the FTSE 250 gaining 0.5 percent to 9,394.0. Volumes were still low, at 2.4 billion shares traded during the session.

Leading the leaders among blue-chips was ITV, which was up 4.6 percent to 101½p. The gains came amid rumors that the broadcaster’s chief executive will step down. ITV has been in focus recently over falling advertising revenues.

Cadbury Schweppes added 3.2 percent to 537½p even though it admitted that a recent incident that resulted in the contamination of some of its chocolate bars with salmonella will cost the company £20 million. The gain came on investor relief that the costs were only half the €40 million named in speculation.

Despite gains overall on the day, there were some significant declines in individual stocks. Corus dropped 3 percent to 415p on a warning from UBS that the industry as a whole is on the decline and a cut in the steel maker’s rating from “buy” to “neutral”.

A downgrade also hurt BSkyB. Citigroup downgraded the satellite broadcaster to “sell”, saying that new competition could have an impact on margins. BSkyB was 0.8 percent lower to 551p. In the banking sector, Lloyds TSB dropped 1.1 percent to 528p after Dresdner Kleinwort dropped its rating to “reduce”.

In the pharmaceuticals sector, GlaxoSmithKline fell 1.8 percent to £14.38 after going ex-dividend.

After three consecutive days of losses, the London equities markets were higher on Thursday. The FTSE 100 gained 2 percent to 5,619.3 on gains in the mining sector. Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 added 3.6 percent to 9,101.8 for its second-largest daily percentage gain so far this year.

The pharmaceuticals sector was mixed based on sales data. Shire Pharmaceuticals added 6.7 percent to 747p after it was revealed that its attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drug, Adderall XR, is selling well in the United States. However, GlaxoSmithKline dropped 1 percent to £14.58 on data showing that sales of its diabetes drug Avandia had fallen 14 percent in May, while sales of Advair, for the treatment of asthma, was down 4.4 percent during the month.

Miners Vedanta and Lonmin were up as metal prices were up and as institutional investors sought to purchase shares before both companies move from the FTSE 250 to the FTSE 100 next week. Vedanta added 13.5 percent to £12.56, while Lonmin gained 7.1 percent to £24.45.

Among miners already included in the 100, Anglo American was up 7.1 percent to £19.89 on an upgrade to “buy” from Merrill Lynch. BHP Billiton gained 7.2 percent to 982p, while Xstrata added 7.9 percent to £19.66.

Supermarket chain William Morrison dropped 1 percent to 194½p on comments from Sanford Bernstein that called its stock overvalued.

The equities markets in London were lower on the day, with the FTSE 100 dropping 0.4 percent to 6,083.4 and the FTSE 250 declining by 0.3 percent to 10,108.6. Part of the declines were accounted for by a general lack of interest ahead of a new interest rate decision by the US Federal Reserve.

The retail sector was strong on the day. Electricals retailer DSG International added 7 percent to 207¾p for the biggest gain in the FTSE 100 on the day after it said that profits for the fiscal year to be higher than had been expected due to better sales in the second half of the year. Elsewhere in the sector, GUS added 1.6 percent to £10.71 and Next was up 2.3 percent to £17.66. Helped by bids rumors, Kingfisher added 2.1 percent to 243½p.

Among insurers, Prudential added 1.2 percent to 660p on rumors that rival Aviva was interested in a merger, based on a set of answers to “frequently asked questions” issued at Aviva’s annual meeting of shareholders. Analysts pointed out, however, that Takeover Panel rules stipulate that Aviva cannot offer another bid until September unless the two companies mutually agree to a deal. Aviva was down 0.3 percent on the day to 802p.

There were declines in the oil and pharmaceuticals sectors. BP dropped 1.2 percent to 674½p, while GlaxoSmithKline was down 1 percent to £15.40.

The London equities markets were down on Friday at the end of a losing week. The FTSE 100 declined by 0.5 percent on the day and lost 1.7 percent this week to close at 6,023.1, while the FTSE 250 was down by 0.5 percent on the day and by 0.7 percent on the week to 9,878.7.

There were notable gainers on the day, however. In the banking sector, Standard Chartered added 2.9 percent to £14.56 after going as high as £15.17 earlier in the day on talk that Temasek of Singapore might buy more of a stake in the bank on top of the 11.5 percent it bought last month. Alliance & Leicester was also up on the day, by 1 percent to £11.23, on renewed bids rumors.

British Energy was up 0.7 percent to 662p after Lehman Brothers said that weakness in share prices in the sector due to declines in carbon dioxide prices were overdone.

Pharmaceuticals company GlaxoSmithKline added 1.6 percent to £15.56 on an upgrade from “equal weight” to “overweight” by Morgan Stanley.

Homebuilders were mixed on the day. Crest Nicholson gained 3.6 percent to 555p on bids talk, but Bovis Homes and Persimmon were both down, by 1.1 percent to £13.10 and 2.6 percent, also to £13.10.

Among losers, broadcaster BSkyB was down 0.9 percent on the day to 525½p on worries that it might be required to resubmit its bid for two licenses to carry English Premiership football.

The London equities markets were mixed on Monday, as the FTSE 100 added 0.7 percent to 6,067.0 but the FTSE 250 declined by 0.4 percent to 9,878.9.

Miners once again were among the gainers on the day. Antofagasta was up 3.4 percent to £23.39, while Kazakhmys and Anglo American each gained 2.9 percent, to £12.35 and £24.05 respectively.

In the advertising sector, WPP added 2.7 percent to 690½p on positive comments from both Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers.

Media companies were also up on the day. Pearson, which owns the Financial Times, gained 2.4 percent to 781p. EMI added 2.8 percent to 257p as talk circulated that it might merge with US company Warner Music Group.

Rising crude oil prices sent BP up 1.8 percent to 693½p as traders predicted that shares in the company could go as high as 720p.

In the telecommunications sector, Vodafone gained 0.4 percent as it was rumored that Verizon, Telefonica of Spain, and the Blackstone private equity group could bid for the company.

On the other hand, word that GlaxoSmithKline will not be bought by Serono brought a gain of 1.2 percent to the largest pharmaceuticals company in Europe, bringing its share price to £14.94. Also helping GSK was an upgrade to “outperform” from Sanford C. Bernstein on the hope that it will have developed a H5N1 flu vaccine by early next year.

Losers on the day included hotels company De Vere, which lost 1.8 percent to 800p. Northern Foods declined by 3.3 percent to 95¼p on worries that bird flu concerns would impact its poultry business. Among chipmakers, Wolfson Microelectronics dropped 6.5 percent to 443p on a downgrade from Goldman Sachs.

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.