London’s equities markets saw gains on the session Wednesday.

The FTSE 100 was 0.27 percent higher to 6,633 and the FTSE 250 gained 0.74 percent to 11,512.1.

In the banking sector, Northern Rock (LSE: NRK) added 32.29 percent to 273p after a hedge fund based in Monaco purchased a 4 percent stake in the troubled financial institution.

Other banks did not do as well on the day.

Barclays Bank (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; TYO: 8642) was down 1.5 percent to 655.5p, while HBOS (LSE: HBOS) fell 3.09 percent to 926p after Lehman Brothers downgraded the bank from “overweight” to “underweight” and dropped its target share price from £10.46 to £10.28.

Voting shares in investment manager Schroders (LSE: SDR.L) added 5.71 percent to £15, while non-voting shares (LSE: SDRt.L) were up 4.27 percent to £12.94.

Business services group Experian (LSE: EXPN) had the worst day on the 100, where it fell 7 percent to 505p.

In the pharmaceuticals sector, meanwhile, Shire (LSE: SHP; NAS: SHPGY) dropped 2.1 percent to £12.15.

Reinsurer Benfield Group (LSE: BFD) was 2.83 percent lower to 724.25p, while construction group Severfield-Rowen (LSE: SFR) fell 2.65 percent to 552p.

In London on Monday the FTSE 100 was 0.92 percent lower to 6,134.1 and the FTSE 250 fell 1.2 percent to 10,974.8.

Media group ITV (LSE: ITV) added 2.02 percent to 352.75p for the best day on the 100.

IG Group (LSE: IGG), in the financial services sector, was the best performer on the 250 as it gained 2.02 percent to 111.3p.

Other gainers included investment manager Schroders (LSE: SDR.L), up 2 percent to £13.29.

Water utility Kelda Group (LSE: KEL) gained 1.55 percent to 852p, while electricity generator British Energy Group (LSE: BGY) was 1.82 percent higher to 476.5p.

Music retailer HMV Group (LSE: HMV) added 2.36 percent to 130p. Food processors were mixed.

Premier Foods (LSE: PFD) added 1.84 percent to 248.5p on the 250, but Associated British Foods (LSE: ABF) was 3.41 percent lower to 808.5p on the 100.

Property developers were lower on the session.

Hammerson (LSE: HMSO) dropped 3.27 percent to £11.82, while Minerva (LSE: MNR) was down 4.47 percent to 256.25p.

Builder Alfred McAlpine (LSE: MCA) fell 4.36 percent to 455.5p, while construction materials group Wolseley (LSE: WOS) dropped 3.63 percent to 928p.

The worst performer on the 100 was investment manager Invesco (LSE: AVZ; NYSE: IVZ), which was 3.72 percent lower to 557p, while car rental group Avis Europe (LSE: AVE) was down 4.97 percent to 43p.

London equities markets saw gains Friday.

The FTSE 100 was 1.47 percent higher to 6,303.3 and the FTSE 250 was up 1.89 percent to 11,309.2.

Miners were higher as metals prices advanced.

Vedanta Resources had the best day on the 100, adding 4.38 percent to £17.63.

Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO; ASX: RIO) was right behind with a gain of 3.72 percent to £34.30 after it gained approval from the Canadian government to proceed with its takeover of Alcan (TSX: AL; NYSE: AL).

Other gainers on the 100 included Imperial Tobacco (LSE: IMT), which added 3.22 percent to £22.41.

Supermarket chain Wm Morrison (LSE: MRW) gained 3.15 percent to 286.25p, while food processor Tate & Lyle (LSE: TATE) was 3.11 percent higher to 564.5p.

Engineering group Melrose (LSE: MRO) was the best performer on the 250, adding 9.97 percent to 190.25p.

Consumer goods retailer Home Retail (LSE: HOME) had the worst day on the 100, dropping 1.07 percent to 414.25p, while publisher Euromoney Institutional Investor (LSE: ERM) saw the biggest decline on the 250, falling 4.34 percent to 540p.

Also on the 250, auto sales group Pendragon (LSE: PDG) dropped 2.26 percent to 75.75p, while builder John Wood Group (LSE: WG.) fell 1.09 percent to 361.5p.

Back on the 100, non-voting shares in investment manager Schorders (LSE: SDRt.L) were 0.26 percent lower to £11.43, while house builder Persimmon (LSE: PSN) dropped 0.52 percent to £11.57 and pubs operator Mitchells and Butlers (LSE: MAB) was down 0.77 percent to 712.5p.

London’s markets were higher Thursday, although the FTSE 100 only managed a gain of 0.01 percent to 6,196.9.

The FTSE 250, meanwhile, added 0.32 percent to 10,945.7.

Property developers and house builders had a bad day on the 100.

House builder Persimmon dropped 2.30 percent to £12.23 after ABN Amro (Euronext: AAB; NYSE: ABN) reduced its target share price from £17.20 to £15.30.

Among developers, British Land (LSE: BLND) fell 2.18 percent to £12.58 while SEGRO (LSE: SGRO) was 2.4 percent lower to 529p.

Hammerson (LSE: HMSO) was the worst performer on the 100, dropping 2.45 percent to £12.75.

However, in a related sector WSP Group (LSE: WSH), which specializes in construction management, engineering, and consulting, added 3.13 percent to 676.5p.

Brewer SABMiller (LSE: SAB) was 2.78 percent higher to £12.94.

Investment manager Schroders (LSE: SDR.L) had the best day on the 100 with a gain of 4.22 percent to £13.34, while its non-voting shares (LSE: SDRt.L) added 3.32 percent to £11.53.

Among banks, Northern Rock (LSE: NRK) was up 3.98 percent to 757p.

Other banks seeing gains included Alliance & Leicester (LSE: AL), which added 0.19 percent to £10.61. Lloyds TSB (LSE: LLOY) gained 0.27 percent to 553.5p, while HBOS (LSE: HBOS) was 2.05 percent higher to 898p.

In London on Tuesday the FTSE 100 fell 0.58 percent to 6,659.1, while the FTSE 250 was 0.98 percent lower to 11,801.

Food processor Tate & Lyle (LSE: TATE) had the best day on the FTSE 100, adding 4.81 percent to 599.5p on an upgrade from “neutral” to “buy” from Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS).

Meanwhile Inmarsat, the telecommunications satellite operator, gained 5.08 percent to 434p on the FTSE 250 for the best performance there.

The biggest loser on the day on the 100 was Lonmin (LSE: LMI), which dropped 3.89 percent to £38.30 on the 100 after both Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and Deutsche Bank (FWB: DBK; NYSE: DB) lowered the miner‘s target share price.

On the 250, investment trust Ashmore dropped 3.51 percent to 268.25p for the worst day on the 250.

Banks saw gains.

Barclays Bank (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; :TYO: 8642) was 0.48 percent higher to 732p, while Lloyds TSB (LSE: LLOY) gained 0.53 percent to 572p.

Gyrus Group (LSE: GYG), which makes and sells surgical supplies, added 2.73 percent to 469.75p.

Investment managers Schroders (LSE: SDR) fell 3.61 percent to £12.80, while its non-voting shares dropped 3.22 percent to £11.41.

Rolls-Royce (LSE: RR) was 2.83 percent lower to 548.5p after Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS; SWX: CSGN) dropped its recommendation on the airplane engine maker from “outperform” to “neutral”.

Meanwhile, Reed Elsevier (LSE: REL; Euronext: REN; NYSE: ENL; NYSE: RUK) fell 2.81 percent to 656p on the news that it is selling its Harcourt educational division to Houghton Mifflin.

London equities markets were higher on Tuesday due to advances in a wide variety of sectors. The FTSE 100 added 0.7 percent to 6,072.7, while the FTSE 250 gained 0.9 percent to a new high of 10,244.5.

Asset managers had a good day as Schroders added 4.2 percent to £10.04, Amvescap gained 5.3 percent to 629p, and Man Group was 8.2 percent higher to 478p. Amvescap benefited from the news that the funds under its management have gone up from $428.9 billion in August to $440 billion in September. The September figure was a full $2 billion higher than some estimates.

In the telecommunications sector, Vodafone added 2.6 percent to 120¼p on an upgrade to “outperform” by Bernstein Research, which also set a target share price of 155p for the telecom company.

The oil sector was higher on gains in exploration companies despite another drop in crude oil prices. Premier Oil advanced by 4.5 percent to £11.70, a record high. Dana Petroleum, rumored to be interested in Premier, added 6.4 percent to £12.62. Tullow Oil and JKX Oil & Gas were both 6.1 percent higher, to 391p and 290p respectively.

Plumber and building materials company Wolseley added 3.9 percent to £12.11 on positive comments from JP Morgan concerning US homebuilders. Wolseley gains around 60 percent of its revenues from the US market every year.

Among losers on the session, Shire dropped 4.6 percent to 961p as investors decided that its 15 percent advance on Monday was out of proportion to the news that the drug maker had gained approval for its hyperactivity drug, NRP 104, for use in the United States.

British Airways was 1.9 percent higher to 377p in London on Monday as the government in the UK lowered its alert level from “critical” to “severe” after the arrest last week of a number of individuals who were said to have planned to bomb flights from London to the United States. The gain helped the FTSE 100 add 0.8 percent to 5,870.9 and the FTSE 250 to gain 0.5 percent to 9,303.9. Volume was extremely low at fewer than 2 billion shares traded on the session.

After a 10 percent decline on Friday, fund manager Schroders was 6.5 percent higher to 929p.

Among banks, Lloyds TSB was up by 1.5 percent to 514½p as Goldman Sachs took Lloyds off its “conviction sell” list but still maintined its “sell” recommendation. Meanwhile, Merrill Lynch added Barclays to its list of top picks and reiterated its target share price of 878p. Barclays was up 2.1 percent to 649p on the session.

Shares in property companies were up, led by British Land, up 1.1 percent to £13.75 ahead of quarterly results due on Tuesday.

Among decliners on the day was BT Group, which was 0.9 percent lower to 240½p after a downgrade by Cazenove from “outperform” to “inline” following on a profits warning issued last week by Deutsche Telekom. Also down on the day was PartyGaming, which dropped 3.5 percent to 105¼p.

London equities markets were down substantially on Friday, with the FTSE 100 seeing its worst day in two years, dropping 2.2 percent to 5,912.1 and the FTSE 250 falling even more, by 2.6 percent to 9,811.8. The declines were a result of sell-offs in commodity and energy related stocks. The continued weakness of the US dollar was also a factor in declines in some sectors.

In the energy sector, BG Group dropped 3.6 percent, while British Energy declined by 2.9 percent to 665p.

Among miners, some losses were substantial. Mid-cap gold miner Randgold lost 11.6 percent to £11.96. Anglo American was down 4.8 percent to £24.25, while Antofagasta dropped 4.4 percent to £24.42. Rio Tinto declined by 4.2 percent and Kazakhmys was down by 4 percent to £13.35.

Fund managers were mixed, with those with substantial US exposure among the losers. Amvescap was down 3.4 percent to 571p. Man Group lost 2.4 percent to £25.28. Among gainers in the sector, Schroeders added 2.5 percent to £11.56 on an upgrade from “hold” to “buy” from Citigroup, which set its target share price at £12.80.

The weakness of the greenback in relation to sterling hurt companies that earn part of their revenues in dollars. Engine maker Rolls-Royce dropped 3.9 percent to 443¼p, while chemical company ICI was down 1.7 percent to 384½p.

In London on Wednesday the FTSE 100 reached a 4-year high of 5,494.8, its sixth best day this year and a rise of 0.9 percent from Tuesday’s close. Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 was also up, by 0.6 percent to 7,935.6.

Among the stocks helping the markets to their gains on the day was Standard Chartered, which gained 4.2 percent to £12.40, near its all time high, on strong performances by Asian stock markets. Standard Chartered recently bought South Korean bank Korea First, which has been a particularly strong market.

Schroders, the assets manager, which also has a great deal of interests in the region, was also up on the day, by 1.3 percent to 920p.

The mining sector was also up on the day, with Corus and Xstrata each up by 4 percent, to 52½p and £14.90 respectively. Also in the sector, Anglo American rose by 3.8 percent to £17.04.

The energy sector was mixed, with Royal Dutch Shell “B” shares up 1.6 percent to £19.46 but Burren Energy down 0.8 percent to 839½p.

Several media companies were up on the recommendation of ABN Amro. Among the media sector gainers were United Business Media, which gained 1.5 percent to 551½p. Also seeing gains were WPP with an advance of 1.7 percent to 586p and Reuters, which rose by 2.8 percent to 379¼p.