FTSE falls as oil, telecoms take toll

Britain's top shares ended lower on Thursday as falls by key stocks such as oil giant BP and mobile phone titan Vodafone took away from gains among the majority of blue chip companies.
Rexam was a main talking point on the upside as rumours swirled of a take-over bid for the group, the world's biggest drinks-can maker. The talk initially sent the stock to an all-time high but faded towards the end of the session, leaving the shares up 3.1 percent by the close.
Cairn Energy also helped to relieve weakness elsewhere in the market, rising 5.1 percent as the oil explorer gave a more optimistic appraisal of the size of its Indian oil fields.
But despite gains for about two-thirds of the market, the final tally still left the FTSE 100 index down 16.3 points at 5,423.5 points.
Energy stocks BP and Royal Dutch Shell were the main culprits, taking 19 points away from the FTSE as the sector tracked a drop in crude prices to a four-month low - a trend some analysts said could hamper the market going forward.
"What happens to the oil price, what happens to metals prices is very critical for the UK market, with nearly 25 percent of the index in those two areas," said John Smith, head of equities at investment bank Brown Shipley.
"We're seeing a little bit of uncertainty, a little bit of lost momentum on oil and metal prices and of course if we see some aggressive selling then clearly the oil and mining stocks will have some aggressive profit taking."
Vodafone, the world's biggest telecoms operator, also slipped ahead of its interim results next week as dealers reported talk some brokers were bearish on margins. The 1.7 percent drop put 6 points of pressure on the FTSE.
Still in the telecoms sector, fixed-line operator BT lost 3 percent after its second-quarter core earnings drifted towards the lower end of forecasts.
Supermarket chain Sainsbury stood out among retailers with a 2.5 percent rise. Traders speculated that US investor Brandes could be raising its stake in the group. Sainsbury said in October that Brandes owned 12 percent of the grocer.
The biggest mid-cap gainer was engineer Invensys, finishing up 13.5 percent after reporting higher operating profits due to stronger rail orders and demand from the oil and gas industries for its products.
Mail operator Business Post followed with a 3.9 percent rise as take-over talk drove the shares up for a second straight day.