London equities markets were lower again on Friday. After gains early in the day, the FTSE 100 ended up 21.9 points lower at 5,597.4 as miners lost value on China’s steps to slow down economic growth. Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 dropped 8 points to end the day at 9,093.8. Over the week, the 100 lost 1 percent, while the 250 actually managed to gain 0.8 percent.

The 100 will lose three stocks beginning Monday, and all three were lower. Ladbrokes dropped 3.4 percent to 372¼p, while Daily Mail and General lost 2p to 600 and Cable & Wireless fell ½p to 109½p.

In the utilities sector, Scottish Power added 3.9 percent to 577½p for the largest gain on the 100. Most analysts put the gain to a positive evaluation of its PPM Energy division, which is the second biggest wind farm operator in the United States. Others said that it was helped by bid talk, as rumor had it that Scottish & Southern Energy is preparing an offer. Scottish & Southern added 0.2 percent to £11.13.

Retailer Marks & Spencer was up 3.3 percent to 573p on a “buy” recommendation from Deutsche Bank after having lost 13 percent in the past month. Also in retail, supermarket chain William Morrison added 2.4 percent to 199¼p and 50 million shares changed hands as bid rumors circulated.

In the mining sector, Rio Tinto dropped 1 percent to £27.17, while BHP Billiton declined by 2.2 percent to 960p.

The London equities markets were lower on Friday, but the FTSE 100 gained 1 percent over the week and managed to close out the week above the 6,000 level. The 100 was down 0.3 percent Friday to 6,026.1, while the FTSE 250 also lost 0.3 percent to 9,923.1.

The oil sector saw gains on the day. BP added 1.3 percent to 681½p. Royal Dutch Shell was up 0.5 percent to £19.20. Among mid-caps, JKX Oil & Gas gained 10.4 percent to 352p. The gains came on a UBS upgrade of the sector from “neutral” to “overweight”.

Energy stocks were down, however, again on remarks from UBS. Scottish & Southern Energy lost 2.3 percent to £11.30, while Scottish Power and British Energy were each down 1.7 percent, to 576p and 682p respectively.

Miners gained on soaring metals prices. Kazakhmys added 11.3 percent during the week to £12.00. Antofagasta was up 5.4 percent to £22.35. Rio Tinto gained 4.9 percent to £30.65.

Among banks, Barclays was up 2.2 percent on Friday to 701p on talk that Citigroup, newly freed by the US Federal Reserve of New York to make large deals, might be interested in bidding for the UK bank.

Shire Pharmaceuticals was up 0.5 percent to 876½p after the US Food and Drug Administration approved its Daytrana patch for the treatment of attention deficit disorder.

The equities markets in London were up in mid-day trading on Tuesday, led by advances in the energy sector brought on by bidding wars on the continent.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.3 percent to 5,882.3 and the FTSE 250 advanced by the same percentage to 9.481.0.

While Eon and Gas Natural fought it out to see which firm would be able to acquire Endsea, buying among utilities listed on the London exchanges accelerated. International Power was up 3.8 percent to 285p and Centrica gained 3.7 percent to 307p, while Scottish & Southern Energy reached a record share price of £11.76, up 3.1 percent. British Energy gained 1.8 percent to 630¾p, helped by an upgrade from “sell” to “hold” by Citigroup, which also boosted British Energy’s target price from 360p to 530p.

Elsewhere, Numis securities upgraded online gaming company Partygaming from “hold” to “add”, helping Partygaming to a gain of 3.2 percent to 122½p. The upgrade came after a legal dispute with Empire Online had been settled. Empire Online gained 0.8 percent to 119p.

Credit Suisse, however, downgraded cruise ship operator Carnival from “outperform” to “neutral” after bookings were lower than expected even after promotions had been increased. Carnival dropped 2.6 percent to £31.86.