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.

The London equities markets were higher on Wednesday after Wall Street opened strongly, with the FTSE 100 up 0.6 percent higher to 5,866.2 and the FTSE 250 adding 0.5 percent to 9.791.1. The energy sector, however, didn’t share in the gains.

British Energy was 1.4 percent lower to 574p, on top of an 8.3 percent decline on Tuesday, as it became clear that the nuclear power generator will not be able to shed any more light on its dividend policy should the government delay its plan to sell its stake in the power company. The government owns 65 percent of BE. Meanwhile, Drax Group, the coal-power generator, dropped 2.4 percent to 835p as Goldman Sachs added it to its sell list.

Also lower was RHM, which fell 1.6 percent to 284½p after a downgrade from Credit Suisse to “neutral” on concerns that the baker will not be able to pass on higher raw materials costs to consumers.

Online gamer PartyGaming dropped 1.9 percent to 101p on a downgrade to “reduce” from UBS, which also cut the internet gambler’s target share price from 135p to 75p.

In the steel sector, Corus Group added 2.8 percent to 369¾p on an upgrade to “overweight” from Morgan Stanley, saying it expects the steel maker to make a deal soon with a low-cost producer of slab steels that could add over 100p to its share price.

British Airways gained 4 percent to 437¾p, a five-and-a-half year high, as crude oil prices continued to decline.

In the telecommunications sector, meanwhile, Cable & Wireless was 3 percent higher to 129¾p ahead of a Thursday presentation on its international operations.

Miners took the London equities markets higher on Monday as the FTSE 100 added 0.2 percent to 5,890.2 and the FTSE 250 gained 0.1 percent to 9,799.5. Retailers also saw gains.

The mining sector, which has been on the decline recently, was up at least partly on talk that a Brazi’s CVRD had said it was interested in linking up with Xstrata to break up Anglo-American. Xstrata added 2 percent to £22.05. Anglo-American and Vedanta Resources each were 3 percent higher, to £21.75 and £12.58 respectively. Kazakhmys gained 4.9 percent to £12.66.

PartyGaming was the biggest winner on the 100, adding 6 percent to 106p on the hope that the US senate will not act on a bill outlawing online gambling before elections in November.

Among retailers, Marks & Spencer was 0.3 percent higher to 626p after Deutsche Bank increased its target share price to 750p in anticipation of a positive interim report, due November 3. William Morrison added 0.5 percent to 232p after Deutsche Bank raised the supermarket chain’s recommendation to “buy”. Kingfisher was also up, by 1.4 percent to 247p, on positive comments from Goldman Sachs.

Defense contractor Chemring debuted on the 250 by adding 5.5 percent to £13.93, at least partly on talk that BAE Systems is interested in making a bid. BAE, however, dropped 1 percent on the session to 380¾p.

The London equities markets were mixed on Wednesday. While the FTSE 100 lost early gains to end the session 0.1 percent lower to 5,892.2, the FTSE 250 added 0.6 percent to 9,669.2.

The leisure tours and travel sector was lower on the session. First Choice Holidays was down by 3.9 percent to 208¼p. Meanwhile, My Travel Group dropped 6.3 percent to 188p, for the 250’s biggest loss on the session, after issuing a profits warning. In addition, UBS put 13 million shares of My Travel Group up for sale for an institutional client.

Retailers saw gains, however. Next added 7.6 percent to £18.34, a new record high for the clothing retailer, on the news that its half-year report exceeded analyst expectations. This news also helped Marks & Spencer, which gained 2.6 percent to 611p.

Also ahead on the day was AWG, Anglian Water’s parent company, which was 3.3 percent higher to £13.62 on bids rumors. ICI gained 0.7 percent to 378¼p after there was talk that it could be considering a bid for rival specialty chemicals company Clariant.

Cable & Wireless added 1.2 percent to 128½p in anticipation of good news from its international division in a report due next week.

Equities markets in London were higher on Tuesday, spurred on by earnings reports and a strong opening in New York. The FTSE 100 added 0.7 percent to 5,895.5, while the FTSE 250 was 0.9 percent higher to 9,605.5.

With miners lower again on dropping commodities prices, some investors were switching into telecommunications and technology stocks. Sage, which produces accountancy software, added 2.2 percent to 247¼p. Among telecoms, Vodafone was 2.4 percent higher to 117½p. Vodafone was also helped for a second day by Telecom Italia’s move to divest itself of its mobile phone business.

In the steel sector, Corus was up 2.2 percent to 375¾p on positive comments from UBS.

Cruise ship operator Carnival added 3.6 percent to £24.33 on rumors that results from the summer quarter will meet analyst predictions. Part of this talk was based the fact that rival Royal Caribbean has upped its predictions for its summer results. In addition, analysts figure that a quiet hurricane season might have increased bookings.

The media sector was mixed. ITV was down by 2.2 percent to 98¾p as it seemed that advertising revenues for ITV1 could be as much as 20 percent lower in October. In addition, Cazenove repeated its “underperform” rating based on less spending by advertisers. However UTV, which owns Northern Ireland’s ITV franchise, added 1.1 percent to 370¾p.

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.