FTSE 100 gained 0.5% or 27.7 points to 5,932.2.
by Greg Secker on Mar.30, 2011, under Greg's Blogs
UK Report 29th March 2011
UK markets closed mixed yesterday, as losses in banks were offset by gains in miners. Banks, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC, lost between 0.3% and 1.3%, as Standard & Poor’s downgraded Greece and Portugal’s debt ratings. Banks were also weighed down, after Italy’s UBI Banca announced a €1 billion capital hike to help repay a government bond, reigniting worries over the European debt crisis. BP dropped 2.2%, affected by a report that the company’s managers might face manslaughter charges, following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. However, miners, Vedanta Resources, Rio Tinto and Kazakhmys, climbed between 0.1% and 2.9%, on the back of firm base metal prices. Wolseley gained 2.1%, after the company reported a 64% rise in its half-year earnings and reinstated its dividend. FTSE 100 gained 0.5% or 27.7 points to 5,932.2. FTSE 250 fell marginally to close at 11,636.4.
