The FTSE 100 Index ended the week near recent five year highs today after encouraging US manufacturing figures.
London’s top flight index closed up 17.8 points at 6,378.6, despite a results day fall for shares in Lloyds Banking Group.
State-backed lenders Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland were among the biggest blue-chip share fallers, with RBS down another 3% or 9.9p to 314p after its 2012 results on Thursday showed losses of £5.2billion.
Part-nationalised Lloyds was down 2% or 1.2p to 53.3p as it posted losses of £570million after it set aside another £1.5billion for compensation relating to payment protection insurance and another £310million for interest rate swap mis-selling.
Marketing and communications giant WPP enjoyed better fortunes, up 4p to £10.58 after its results showed profits rising to £1.5billion from £1.4billion in 2011.
On the FTSE 250 index, William Hill topped the risers board after a jump of 10% or 38.6p to 443.3p on plans to spend £424million on the 29% stake held by gaming software partner Playtech in its online business.
The biggest FTSE 100 risers were Old Mutual up 8.9p to 211.4p, Capita ahead 35p to 858.5p, Experian 43p higher at £11.37 and Burberry up 35p to £14.11.
Among the biggest FTSE 100 fallers were Kazakhmys down 29p to 590p, Evraz off 11.4p to 261.5p and Xstrata down 35.5p to £11.27.
Steven McKay, of investment manager and financial planning specialist Brewin Dolphin in Aberdeen, noted that Xcite Energy jumped 9.9% to 112.25p, Faroe Petroleum added 5.1% to 143.125p and SSE closed the day 0.8% higher at £14.57.
Among the day’s fallers Petrofac continued to slide, dropping a further 1.3% to £14.35, while Bridge Energy slipped 0.8% to finish the week at 121.5p.