FTSE 100 stable to close week

The FTSE 100 ended the week down 0.18 per cent on the day and down 0.12 per cent for the week.

The week as a whole has seen days alternate between rises and falls with initial Friday losses beaten off by a late rally.

The FTSE 100 closed down 9.7 points to 5352.60.

Winners and losers were spread across sectors – with Ferrexpo topping the gains up 4.05 per cent and fellow miner Eurasian at the bottom of the pile down 7.27 per cent.

BG Group rose 3.75 per cent, banks HBOS and Barclays were up 2.90 per cent and 2.44 per cent respectively, while Imperial Tobacco climbed 2.00 per cent.

Legal & General dropped 6.72 per cent and fellow insurer Royal&SunAlliance was down 4.80 per cent.

Reit Hammerson fell 4.79 per cent and Schroders dropped 4.48 per cent.

Anthony Grech, research analyst at IG Index, said: “UK markets were largely forecast to decline today, after negative comment on the financial sector and poor home sales figures in the US, saw the Dow plummet by 283.10 points last night.

“In fact, with the exception of Barclays and HBOS, the banks have seen sell-offs today, led by Alliance & Leicester, currently 11p lower (-3.21 per cent) to 340p.

“The FTSE has had seen three days of losses against two of gains as it continues to hover just ahead of the 5300 level, which increasingly appears to be the area at which buyers re-enter the market.”