London markets down on Friday

While both the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 saw declines during the day on Friday, both managed to end the week slightly higher. The 100 dropped 0.9 percent to 5,719.7, while the 250 was 1 percent lower to 9,114.2 on a volume of 2.7 billion shares traded. The 100 was up by 0.2 percent on the week and the 250 had a weekly gain of 0.4 percent.

The mining sector was an instrumental part of Friday’s losses. Miners were hurt by worries that China’s demand for metals might decrease due to banking moves. Rio Tinto dropped 3.8 percent to £26.63, while Vedanta Resources was down 4.3 percent to £12.46 and Antofagasta fell 4.8 percent to 389½p.

Ultra Electronics was down 5.4 percent to £10.40 on the news that it is not talking with Finmeccanica, the Italian aerospace company. Analysts, however, tended to believe that the fact that Ultra did not lose all of Thursday’s 15 percent advance meant that such a deal was not out of the question.

Online gaming remained erratic as PartyGaming gained 10.9 percent to 96¾p after its 7.4 percent loss Thursday. The advance came after PartyGaming’s chief executive said that he was not concerned about BetOnSports’ indictment in the United States, saying that his company’s practices are nothing like those of the troubled gaming company.

Cadbury Schweppes declined by 1.1 percent to 518p on rumors that it fallout from a ruling from the Health Protection Agency that it was responsible for a Dairy Milk salmonella outbreak might cost the company £30 million.

Discuss this in the Finance Markets forums

Story link: London markets down on Friday