The London equities markets saw declines on Monday as oil and miners were both lower on declining prices. The FTSE 100 dropped 0.5 percent to 5,850.8, while the FTSE 250 was 0.9 percent lower to 9,523.1. Volume was low, with only 2 billion shares trading hands.

The oil sector was down as crude oil prices continued to decline. BP ended the session at 583p, 1.3 percent lower, while BG Group dropped 2.6 percent to 659½p. Among mid-cap oil companies, JKX Oil & Gas declined 6.8 percent to 258¼p.

Miners were lower as well, as investors continued to worry that interest rates in China would be raised in order to slow growth there. BHP Billiton was 4.9 percent lower to 934p, Vedanta Resources dropped 6.2 percent to £12.39, and Aquarius Platinum fell 10.1 percent to 841½p.

In the retail sector, Next was 1.1 percent lower to £17.09 on doubts that rumors on Friday that private equity firms were interested in bidding would end up producing anything concrete.

The telecommunications sector did better on the session. Vodafone, with its Vodafone Italia division its second most lucrative asset, was 1.9 percent higher to 114¾p on the news that Telecom Italia’s board had met to consider restructuring that could include the sale of its wireless business. BT Group added 1.9 percent to 253¼p after it won a contract to provide Vodafone’s UK customers with broadband internet. Cable & Wireless, which was also in the running for the Vodafone contract, was still up 0.2 percent to 125½p.

London equities markets were up on Friday but closed lower over the week, with the FTSE 100 adding 0.36 for the day but dropping 1.2 percent for the week to end at 5,879.3 and the FTSE 250 up 0.32 Friday but down by 1 percent on the week to 9.606.3.

Miners were down as investors worried that China will say on Monday that it has a large trade surplus, leading to a tightening of monetary policy there. Antofagasta fell 2 percent to 461p, wile Vedanta Resources declined by 3 percent to £13.21.

GCap Media dropped 4 percent to 200¾p when Merrill Lynch cut its earnings forecast for the company by 42 percent.

Among pharmaceuticals companies, AstraZeneca was 1.3 percent lower to £33 on a downgrade to “hold” from Citigroup on valuation concerns.

In the oil sector, Regal Petroleum added 7.2 percent to 119½p, while Xtract Energy was up 32 percent to 10.3p on a new discovery of a shale deposit in Australia that could yield up to 1.6 billion barrels of oil.

The biggest winner among blue-chips was Next. The fashion retailer gained 3.8 percent to £17.28 on bids rumors, even though analysts were skeptical of the talk.

The FTSE 100 dropped 0.9 percent to 5,929.3 on Wednesday for its largest one-day decline in a month after labor data from the United States renewed fears that inflation would grow. In addition, crude oil prices fell again, sending oil stocks lower. The FTSE 250 was also down on the session, by 0.6 percent to 9,700.9.

In the mining sector, Xstrata was 2.3 percent lower to £24.18 on rumors that it will launch a rights issue worth 2.75 billion in order to finance its purchase of Canadian copper and nickel miner Falconbridge.

A number of sectors were weak, with some declines coming on broker downgrades. For example, coal fired power station operator Drax dropped 3.3 percent to 907p on a downgrade from “buy” to “neutral” from Merrill Lynch. Still, Drax is up 82 percent since the beginning of the year.

In the banking sector, Barclays dropped 1.2 percent to 665p on a lengthy “sell” recommendation from Citigroup, which said that new capital adequacy rules will have a harmful effect on Barclays’ investment banking business.

The recommendations were not all negative, however. Next added 0.8 percent to £16.80 on a “buy” recommendation from Deutsche Bank that came just a day after a similar rating by Man Securities. Anglo-Dutch publisher Reed Elsevier also benefited from positive comments, gaining 0.8 percent to 569p after UBS repeated its “buy” recommendation.

Also seeing gains during the session was PartyGaming, up 0.6 percent to 117¼p.

London equities markets were up on Tuesday, but just barely, with the FTSE 100 adding 0.08 percent to 5,918.7 and the FTSE 250 gaining 0.01 percent to 9,761 in a late rally that brought both indices up from earlier declines. Volume was a bit higher at 2.8 billion shares trading hands during the session.

The oil sector was helped higher on the day by bid rumors. Royal Dutch Shell was said to be interested in bidding for both BG Group, which added 0.9 percent to 690½p, and for Premier Oil, which ended the session 2.1 percent higher to £10.65. Royal Dutch Shell itself gained 0.1 percent to £18.96.

Utilities ended the session lower, with the exception of Centrica, which owns British Gas. Centrica added 1.9 percent to 308¼p even though Gazprom denied rumors that it was interested in making a bid. Vattenfall has also been said to be interested. Elsewhere in the sector, Scottish & Southern dropped 0.4 percent to £12.21, while Scottish Power was 0.5 percent lower to 625½p and United Utilities fell 0.7 percent to 685½p.

In the retail sector, Next was 0.6 percent higher to £16.67 after Man Securities recommended that its clients buy on the strength of a prediction that margins will increase even if sales decline. Meanwhile, DSG International gained 0.9 percent to 209¾p on positive comments from Merrill Lynch.

Among miners, Kazakhmys added 3.4 percent to £13.31 on a repot that its half-year report will show operating profits up by 121 percent.

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.

London equities markets were down substantially again on Monday, with the FTSE 100 losing 1.2 percent to 5,841.3 and the FTSE 250 falling 2.6 percent to 9,557.3. It was the fifth session of losses in a row for the 100.

The mining sector accounted for a substantial amount of the declines. Xstrata and Kazakhmys each lost 8.4 percent, to £22.08 and £12.04 respectively. Xstrata is said to be looking for a way to fund an offer of £9.4 billion for Canadian miner Falconbridge. Elsewhere in the sector, Antofagasta dropped 6.9 percent to £22.73, while BHP Billiton was down 5.6 percent to £11.02.

The steel sector also saw losses as Anglo-Dutch group Corus was down 3.7 percent to 421¼p after US investor Brandes said that it has reduced its holding in the company from 4.8 percent to 3.79 percent.

Retailer Next was also down, by 0.3 percent to £17.45 even though Man Securities raised its target share price for the company from £19 to £22.50 before Next’s trading update, due on Wednesday.

Among banks, Lloyds TSB added 0.8 percent to 510p on a possible dividend yield of 6.7 percent.

The telecommunications sector had a good day. Vodafone, which had UBS hike its target share price to 153p and issue a “buy” recommendation, was up 1.2 percent to 125¼p. Meanwhile, BT Group gained 2.6 percent to 216p on rumors that it will have a smaller-than-projected pension fund deficit when it issues its full-year report on Thursday.

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.

London equities markets were lower on Thursday as the FTSE 100 slipped back below the 6,000 level, closing down 0.3 percent to 5,990.1. The FTSE 250 dropped 0.1 percent to 9,865.6. Volume amounted to 3.8 billion shares traded.

Miners were up on the day. Anglo American gained 3.1 percent to £20.78 after it announced that it will double its previously announced share buy-back. This news helped the rest of the sector, and BHP Billiton was up 2.3 percent to 991p.

The retail sector was generally down. Clothing retailer Next dropped 3.7 percent to £16.62 on the news that like-for-like sales dropped by 8.9 percent during the first seven weeks of its fiscal year. Woolworths was down by 0.7 percent to 36¾p on a downgrade from “hold” to “sell” from Deutsche Bank.

Insurer Prudential dropped 0.7 percent to 715½p on concerns that a predicted bidding war for the company would not take place. Rival Aviva, however, gained 0.3 percent to 822p after rumors persisted that it was ready to up its bid for Prudential, made last week.

Supermarket operator Wm Morrison dropped 6 percent to 197½p after it announced a cost-cutting plan after posting the first annual loss in the history of the company. Analysts were not impressed by the plan as outlined.

British Airways ended the session flat at 360¾p on uncertainties over whether unions would approve the airline’s scheme to lower its current large pension deficit.