London equities markets were lower again on Thursday as the FTSE 100 was down 1.2 percent to 5,858.1, brining its points loss to 123.6 in two days. The FTSE 250 dropped 1.3 percent to 9,576.1.

A good portion of the losses on the 250 were due to declines in the engineering sector. Bodycote International dropped 4.6 percent to 222¼p, while Invensys fell 4.7 percent to 190p and FKI was 5.9 percent lower to 91¼p. all these declines were triggered by a profits warning from automobile and construction group Tomkins, down 14.7 percent to 241¼p.

Plumbing and building materials group Wolseley dropped 3 percent to £11.15, hurt by a profits warning issued by US homebuilder KB Home.

Online gambler PartyGaming was 9.8 percent lower to 105¾p on the news that the chairman of Sportingbet had been detained by authorities in New York. Sportingbet trade is still suspended at 239p.

Among gainers on the day were Scottish & Southern Energy, up 1.2 percent to £12.30, after an upgrade to “buy” from Citigroup, which set a target share price of £13.50 for the utility. Among the reasons cited for the upgrade was the belief that Scottish & Southern’s decision not to set higher gas prices will pay off soon.

London equities markets were up on Wednesday after the minutes from the latest meeting of the US Federal Reserve seemed to indicate that interest rates in the United States are likely to remain on hold for the time being. The FTSE 100 added 0.7 percent to 5,929.3, while the FTSE 250 was 0.5 percent higher to 9,581.5.

Pubs operators were up on the day. JD Wetherspoon gained 2.5 percent to 452p, taking its gains in the past year to 60 percent. Enterprise Inns was up 3.1 percent to £10.25 after Deutsche Bank upped its target share price to £12.

Still in leisure sectors, gaming and restaurant operator Rank was 2 percent higher to 219p ahead of its half-year results, due out on Friday. Analysts look for Rank to sell Hard Rock Café and concentrate on its gaming interests.

Wolseley added 4.2 percent to £11.35 on talk that a private equity company might be preparing a bid, as well as on the idea that interest rates in the US will stay where they are at least until the end of the year. Wolseley makes 60 percent of its profits in the United States.

The oil sector was mixed. Premier Oil was up by 2.3 percent to £10.12 as bids talk continued. One of those thought to be interested was Royal Dutch Shell, which dropped 0.3 percent to £18.98.

After Monday’s holiday, London markets resumed trade on Tuesday with slightly higher volumes of 2.2 billion shares traded and small gains in both the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250. The 100 added 0.17 percent to 5,888.3 after going as high as 5,921.3 earlier in the session, while the 250 was 0.4 percent higher to 9,531.8

Airlines and cruise ship operators benefited from declining oil prices, which dropped below $70 dollars per gallon. Cruise ship operator Carnival added 2.6 percent to £21.74. Among airlines, British Airways was up 4 percent to 414¼p and EasyJet gained 4.5 percent to 454½p.

Brewers were up on the day as well. Diageo added 0.1 percent to 945p ahead of its full-year report, due on Thursday. SABMiller gained 0.6 percent to £10.13. Both were said to be interested in bidding for Australian drinks company Foster’s.

Another of the day’s gainers was plumber and buildings materials group Wolseley, which added 2.2 percent to £10.89 ahead of an interim report due next month. The gains came after Wolseley lost a quarter of its value recently.

Among losers on the day was MFI Furniture Group, which dropped 4.2 percent to 85p on reports that the sale of its losing retail business in the UK ahs run into problems. Also lower was coal-fueled power station operator Drax, down 1.8 percent to 902p.

The FTSE 100 was lower on Tuesday in London with a decline of 0.8 percent to 5,880.0, affected by investor concerns that interest rates in the United States could rise again in August. In addition, trade volumes were very low with only 2.2 billion shares changing hands.

Rising crude oil prices helped the oil sector. Burren Energy added 2.9 percent to 914p while Tullow Oil gained 1.9 percent to 402p. Both were also helped by news that a French firm will sell assets, probably in Congo, to ENI of Italy; Burren and Tullow both have assets in the development in question.

Plumber Wolseley was also up on the day, finishing 0.7 percent higher to £11.48.

Unilever, up 12 percent in the past two weeks, added another 0.3 percent to end the session at £12.70. The consumer goods group, which is scheduled to release its quarterly report on Thursday, is expected to say that its underlying sales are up by 3.6 percent in the quarter. While Credit Suisse was optimistic about Unilever’s prospects, Lehman Brothers said that it would have to show its current valuation is deserved.

Online gaming had another bad day. PartyGaming dropped 3.4 percent to 105¾p, while 888 Holdings was 7.7 percent lower to 143p.

Miners were also lower on the day. Kazakhmys did better than most after Credit Suisse raised its target share price from £13 to £15 on an increase in production. Still, Kazahkmys fell 0.2 percent to £12.49.

In London on Monday the FTSE 100 was 2 percent higher, to 5,833.9 as quarterly reports continued to come in. The 100 as a whole was helped by the news that US hospital chain HCA is being purchased by a consortium that includes Bain Capital and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts for $21 billion. Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 also saw gains, closing the day at 9,223.5.

Vodafone gained 3.6 percent to 115¼p when it announced that revenues grew by 4.5 percent in the first quarter. Even so, its head in Europe will leave as revenues in German and Italy were down.

In the online gaming sector, PartyGaming seemed to be attempting to recover from last week’s losses by adding 8 percent to 104½p.

Plumber Wolseley added 3.1 percent to £11.12 when it said it has purchased DT Group, a Nordic building materials supplier.

Amvescap said it would buy the private equity group owned by US investor Wilbur Ross, sending its shares up by 4.8 percent to 481¾p.

Bids rumors sent Whitbread 6.1 percent higher to £12.44 after it was said that Starwood Capital had an offer ready. The news spurred Panmure Gordon to reconfirm its “buy” recommendation and 1370p target share price on Whitbread.

On the losing side, GCap Media fell 7.5 percent to 197½p on an announcement of revenues lower than expected in the March through June quarter.

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.