London markets move downwards

The London markets were down in mid-afternoon trading on Friday, following a trend that affected US and European markets.

The FTSE 100 was down 0.7 percent to 4,910.9 and the FTSE 250 was off by 1.1 percent to 7,083.

The pharmaceuticals sector was a bright spot, with AstraZeneca up 2.5 percent and GlaxoSmithKlein up by 2.3 percent.

Another bit of good news came from the water sector, with Northumbrian Water up 3.2 percent and Derwent Valley 1.8 percent higher.

Mining, however, was down for the third straight day. Antofagasta lost 4.8 percent, BHP fell by 2 percent, and Xstrata was down 1.4 percent.

Housing builders were down as well due to fears of a slowdown in sales. Wimpy fell 2.4 percent and Westbury was down 4.5 percent.

Taylor Woodrow lost 4.1 percent after Citigroup downgraded their stock from “buy” to “hold.”

Fund managers were also down. Amvescap fell by 3.6 percent, Man Group was down 3.2 percent, and Schroders fell 1.8 percent.

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