FTSE helped by US rally

Britain's top share index closed little changed on Thursday, as shares regained some ground in tandem with their US counterparts, but real estate and mining stocks weighed. Britain's FTSE 100 index closed up 0.05 percent at 6,416.4 after being in the red for much of the day, helped by a recovery in shares across the Atlantic.
"The market was weak initially and I think that was because of the slightly more hawkish Fed minutes that were released yesterday but the US market has turned around this afternoon, so that's helping the UK move back to positive territory," said HSBC strategist Robert Parkes.
The minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting released on Wednesday showed fading chances for an interest rate cut and raised the possibility that rates might actually go up, hitting equity markets.
UK real estate shares continued to weigh after suffering a downgrade from Lehman Brothers in the previous session. Land Securities fell 2 percent, British Land slipped 1.7 percent, Liberty International lost 0.6 percent and Slough Estates shed 2.4 percent.
Miners also struggled as metal prices slipped. BHP Billiton, Anglo American, Xstrata, Rio Tinto and Vedanta Resources lost between 0.3 and 0.9 percent. Copper lost 1.8 percent to $7,710 a tonne, while nickel slipped 1.3 percent.
The European Central Bank meanwhile kept interest rates on hold at 3.75 percent but investors read comments from the ECB president to mean that the bank could raise rates more than once this year, leading to unease among investors in the region.
Merger and acquisition talk has been a major driver of British stocks over the past year. But on Thursday, the M&A front saw some pause for breath, deflating certain stocks recently supported by bid talk.
Brewer Scottish & Newcastle, often seen as a possible target for rival SABMiller, fell 2 percent after SABMiller steered investors away from the idea it would make acquisitions in western Europe.
"SABMiller is one of the names in the frame (to bid for Scottish & Newcastle). They seem to give an impression that they are not interested," a trader said. Sainsbury remained under pressure, down 0.7 percent, a day after the collapse of a 10.1 billion pound bid for the company which would have ranked as Britain's biggest leveraged buyout.
The unravelling of the Sainsbury bid also hurt other purported bid targets including Kingfisher, which lost 0.9 percent, Scottish & Southern, which ended 1.4 percent lower and ICI, which slipped 1 percent.