BT shares rallied today after it made progress in tackling its pension scheme deficit, but fears about the global recovery continued to weigh on London’s leading shares index.
The telecommunications giant rose 5%, or 11.9p to 232.1p, after it reported a sharp reduction in its pension deficit to £4.1billion and pledged to eliminate the shortfall in 10 years.
The wider FTSE 100 Index made only marginal gains however, rising 9.2 points to 5,854.9.
Banks came under pressure after the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee said they had failed to build up adequate cash buffers to help them survive another financial crisis. Royal Bank of Scotland closed down 0.1p at 28p while HSBC was off 5.1p at 558.3p, but Standard Chartered and Barclays reversed earlier declines to close up 2p at £15.99 and 4.9p higher at 244.5p respectively.
Heavily-weighted miners also pulled back their earlier losses following a poor week for the sector. Antofagasta was up 31p at £11.72 and Kazakhmys rose 22.5p at 935.5p.
Randgold Resources was among the biggest fallers in the FTSE 100 Index with a fall of 115p to £56.50, after a coup in Mali where the gold miner has two big facilities.
Meanwhile, drinks giant Diageo saw its shares fall after it said the UK Government’s initiative to bring in a minimum price for alcohol to clamp down on binge drinking was misguided. Its shares fell 13.5p to £15.10.
The biggest Footsie risers included Ashmore ahead 11.6p at 377.1p and Next ahead 73p at £29.87.
Among the biggest Footsie fallers were Burberry, down 31p at £15.13, Wolseley down 40p at £24.64, and Severn Trent off 25p at £15.64.
David Barclay, of investment manager and financial planning specialist Brewin Dolphin in Aberdeen, noted Nautical Petroleum climbing 5.68% to 330.25p. Other risers included EnQuest which added 1.09% to 129.45p and Hunting which gained 1.32% to 922.75p.
Laggards included Premier Oil, which shed 3.19% at 412.7p and Melrose Resources which lost 0.97% to finish at 128.25p.