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.

London’s equities markets were mixed on Thursday as the FTSE 100 dropped 0.6 percent to 6,048.9 but the FTSE 250 added 0.1 percent to 10,673.9.

Miners were mostly up on the session, the exception being Anglo American, which dropped 0.25 percent to £23.62. Rio Tinto added 0.8 percent to £27.15, while Xstrata and BHP Billiton gained 1.1 percent each, to £22.80 and 965p respectively. Analysts at Citigroup issued remarks saying that Billiton should divest itself of its petroleum unit and that Rio Tinto should get rid of its Industrial Minerals division in order to kick-start performance.

The pharmaceuticals sector saw declines. GlaxoSmithKline dropped 1.4 percent to £13.51, while AstraZeneca fell 1.9 percent to £29.50 and Shire was 2.1 percent lower to £10.19. There has been talk lately that GlaxoSmithKline might be interested in AstraZeneca, but some analysts believe that AstraZeneca is more likely to be a bidder, possibly for Shire, than a target of bids.

Building materials group Hanson added 0.5 percent to 729p on rumors that Mexico’s Cemex could be interested in bidding, especially after its bid for an Australian company was rejected earlier in the week. Meanwhile in the leisure sector, casino operator Rank was 2 percent higher to 278p on rumors that it could be a target for bidders.

The London equities markets were lower on Monday, with the FTSE 100 dropping 0.5 percent to 6,126.8 and the FTSE 250 falling 0.4 percent to 10,308.6.

In the pharmaceuticals sector, Shire dropped 2.8 percent on the session to 940p on profit-taking. Shire is up 45 percent on the year so far.

Wolfson Microelectronics dropped 3.9 percent to 292¼p after McCall, Aitken, McKenzie, a new broker, advised its clients to sell after Wolfson’s rally last week. Elsewhere in the semiconductors sector, ARM Holdings fell 3.5 percent to 109p in anticipation of its third quarter report, due later in the day.

Insurers were higher. Aviva added 0.2 percent to 771p and Prudential, which rebuffed an Aviva bid earlier in the year, gained 1.7 percent to 641p on analyst sentiment that it remains vulnerable to a bid after recent weak data. Many believe that Aviva is still interested. Elsewhere, Standard Life gained 1.6 percent to 287½p on media reports that Axa of France could be interested in bidding for the life assurer, even though analysts were not convinced.

Hanson added 2.3 percent to 727½p on ABN Amro’s repeat of its “buy” rating and £10.60 target share price. The building materials group had dropped 4.4 percent on Friday.

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.

In London on Wednesday, equities markets were higher in reaction to gains in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in New York. The FTSE 100 added 1 percent to 5,930.1, while the FTSE 250 was up 0.7 percent to 9,911.9.

Miners were up on the session after comments from Deutsche Bank that recent declines were larger than were warranted. BHP Billiton and Antofagasta each gained 3.4 percent, to 921p and 448½p respectively, while Anglo American added 3.6 percent to £22.20.

Pallet maker Brambles Industries added 1 percent to 468p in heaving trading after it gained 3.5 percent in overnight trading in Australia on bids rumors.

Utilities in the UK were higher on mergers and acquisitions activity in Europe. Drax Group was 2.7 percent higher to 836½p, while British Energy added 3 percent to 448½p and Scottish & Southern Energy was 3/5 percent higher to £13.10.

Construction materials company Hanson dropped 1.2 percent to 721p even though ABN Amro repeated its “buy” recommendation and set a target share price of £10.60 and despite recent rumors that Mexican cement company Cemex is preparing to bid. The decline was attributed to profit-taking after recent gains of 10 percent on the deal rumors.

The equities markets were up in London on Tuesday, helped by new data that shows consumer confidence in the United States up more than had been expected in September. The FTSE 100 was 1.3 percent higher to 5,873.6, while the FTSE 250 gained 0.9 percent to 9,844.9. Mergers and acquisitions speculation was another driving force on the session.

In the steel sector, Corus added 3.6 percent to 377¼p on continuing talk about its pursuit of a low-cost steel slab producer in the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) region. Morgan Stanley recently said that such a deal could produce a 100p per hike in Corus’ share prices.

Other bids rumors sent Scottish Power up 3 percent to 634p as rumors spread that Eon could bid for the utility if its effort to buy Endsea doesn’t work out. In the airlines sector, rumors that British Airways is in merger talks with Iberia sent BA 0.6 percent higher to 429p.B

Plumber and building materials group Wolseley gained 4.1 percent to £11.39 on a better than expected full-year report. Elsewhere in the sector, building materials supplier Hanson added 6.2 percent to 730p as rumors continued that Cemex is preparing a bid.

Among miners, Rio Tinto gained 3.5 percent to £24.34 on talk that it will propose an off-market buyback of London-traded shares for £25 per share.

Emap added 2.6 percent to 741p after the publisher received an upgrade to “buy” from Goldman Sachs.

Among losers on the session, BSkyB was 1.3 percent lower to 542p on talk that one of its brokers had been informed that its forecasts were too high by 10 percent. BSkyB denied the rumors.

The UK equities markets were lower on Friday, hurt by Thursday’s losses in New York and concerns that the US economy is cooling down. The FTSE 100 dropped 1.2 percent on Friday to 5,822.3, a decline of 55 points on the week. Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 was 0.7 percent lower on the session to 9,784 but was off only 1.6 points for the week.

Brewer SABMiller fell 2.6 percent to 998p on data showing that a general decline in the volume of beer sold in the US is hurting its Miller brands more than others. Another factor in the decline was weakness in the South African rand. SABMiller does a substantial part of its business in South Africa.

The mining sector was especially hard hit by sell-offs on Friday as investors worried about how demand for commodities will be affected by the slowdown in the US economy. Xstrata was 2.7 percent lower to £21.13, while Anglo American fell 2.8 percent to £21.34 and BHP Billiton dropped 3.2 percent to 887p.

There were few gainers on the day. On the 250, MFI Furniture was 13.1 percent higher to 99p after it sold its retail division, which had been seeing losses. On the 100, there were just two stocks with gains on the day. Building materials group Hanson added 0.7 percent to 680½p as talk continued that Mexican company Cemex is considering a bid. The other blue-chip gainer was Brambles Industries. The pallet supplier gained 2.5 percent to 468½p.

In London on Friday, trade in equities was slow again with only 2.1 billion shares changing hands during the session. The activity left the markets higher for the day, but only just, with the FTSE 100 adding 0.1 percent to 5,692.1 and the FTSE 250 up 0.03 percent, just 2.4 points, to close at 9,195.3. Both the 100 and the 250 were up for the week, by 1.7 percent and 1.1 percent respectively.

The oil sector was largely responsible for the 100’s gains on the day. Royal Dutch Shell gained 1.4 percent to £18.21, while BP was up 2 percent to 617p. Deutsche Bank put its target share price for BP at 800p, and issued an upgrade for Shell to “buy” and set its target share price to £21.

Energy companies saw advances as well, spurred on by news that in the US Anadarko Petroleum has purchased both Kerr-McGee and Western Gas Resources in separate cash deals. BG Group gained 2.7 percent to 695p, while Cairn Energy added 4.8 percent to £20.71.

SABMiller dropped 1.5 percent to 960p after comments from Merrill Lynch said that the brewer might have to cut its earnings forecasts due to continuing weakness in the South African rand, which was at a two and a half year low of 7.53 rand to the dollar on Friday. SABMiller has lost almost 18 percent since May 11.

In the construction materials sector, Wolseley added 0.5 percent to £11.55 and Hanson was up 2 percent to 651½p as the US dollar gained value in relation to sterling. Because both companies get a large portion of their profits in dollars but report earnings in sterling, those earnings show a boos when the dollar strengthens.

Persimmon gained 1.3 percent to £12.09 after UBS reaffirmed its “buy” recommendation and set a target share price of £16.35 in anticipation of the homebuilder’s half-year results, due next week.

London’s equities markets came back from Monday’s holiday to major losses. The FTSE 100 declined by 2.4 percent to 5,652.0 while the FTSE 250 lost 2.9 percent to 9,235.5.

Shares in companies that depend on the US dollar for a large part of their earnings were especially vulnerable as the greenback continued to weaken. Among those losers were asset manager Amvescap, which declined by 4.2 percent to 408p; plumbers Wolseley, down 5 percent to £12.02; and building materials group Hanson, which lost 5.6 percent to 642p.

The insurance sector also saw losses. Prudential was down 4.3 percent to 576½p, while Old Mutual declined by 4.9 percent to 163½p.

Miners were down on the day even though metals prices were relatively stable. Copper miner Kazakhmys had the worst of it, dropping 4.6 percent to £10.85.

Gainers on the day included airport operators BAA, which added 6.4 percent to 873p after it said it had rejected a 900p per share offer from Spanish construction company Grupo Ferrovial. Amid mid-cap gainers was EMI Group, which was up 1.3 percent to 273¼p on rumors that US music group Warner Music might bid for the UK music company. In addition, Morgan Stanley upgraded EMI from “underweight” to “equalweight”.

In London on Wednesday the FTSE 100 had its highest close since February 2001 as it gained 0.76 percent to 6,089.8. Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 was up even more, adding 0.89 percent to 9.871.8.

The construction materials sector was up on comments indicating that the US Federal Reserve might be nearly finished raising interest rates for the time being. Companies with large US operations should see benefit should this be the case. Hanson was up 4.25 percent to 760½p, while Wolseley added 3.9 percent to £14.03. Also benefiting from the news on interest rates was Taylor Woodrow. With 40 percent of its business in the United States, the homebuilder gained 1.3 percent to 387¼p.

Publisher Emap added 3.6 percent to 869½p on rumors that several entities are interested in purchasing its French business. Once it sheds that unit, Emap itself was said to be a possible target for bids.

Casino operator London Clubs International added 7 percent to 115p, also on bids rumors. There is talk that Ladbrokes will try for LCI once it sells its Hilton hotel interests. US group Boyd Gaming is also said to be interested. Ladbrokes was up 0.4 percent to 418½p on the day.

Leisure group Rank, owner of Grosvenor Casinos, was up 2.15 percent to 225½p on a reiteration of a recommendation to “buy” from Citigroup, citing it as an attractive takeover target if it gets rid of its losing Deluxe Media business. Elsewhere in the sector, Stanley Leisure added 4.5 percent to 713½p and William Hill advanced by 1.16 percent to 609½p.

Imperial Tobacco was up 4 percent to £17.54, a five-year high share price, on speculation that it would make an offer for Franco-Spanish tobacco company Altadis before the year is out. JP Morgan said that the deal was likely due to a combination of Imperial being in a strong position and Altadis’ share prices being weak. Along with these comments, JP Morgan also raised Imperial’s target share price from £18.50 to £20.00.