Britain's leading stock index slid 1.5 percent on Friday to end its worst week since early February as miners and oil shares weighed, though Cable & Wireless rose on upbeat broker views. The FTSE 100 closed down 94.3 points at 6,087.3, for a weekly loss of 3.4 percent.The benchmark index is flat for the month, but is down 5.7 percent for the year.
The UK stock market will close on Monday for a holiday. "The market starts to ask itself how far can any recovery go given the background that we have got," said Keith Bowman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
"Minutes from the Fed earlier this week do look to confirm that we have seen the last of the interest rate cuts in the States, and probably in the UK for some months ... This week has also been the story of rising oil prices. Apart from the energy sector, it is pretty much bad news across the board," he said.
Miners shaved 43 points off the index as copper prices eased, with Kazakhmys the top loser, down 5.6 percent. BHP Billiton shed 4.7 percent and Rio Tinto fell 5.6 percent after the Wall Street Journal said BHP's proposed acquisition of Rio faces increasing scrutiny from European regulators worried about the impact on steel prices.
BHP was not immediately available for comment. Antofagasta, Xstrata, Anglo American and Lonmin were off between 3.3 and 5.3 percent. Oil shares also languished even as crude prices traded up above $133 a barrel, but well short of its all-time high of $135 on Thursday.
Index heavyweight BP dropped 2.6 percent, Royal Dutch Shell lost 1.5 percent, gas producer BG Group slipped 2.8 percent and Tullow Oil shed 3.6 percent. Banks were also generally weaker, with Barclays down 1.5 percent, HSBC off 0.5 percent, Standard Chartered slipping 1.4 percent and HBOS losing 2.6 percent.
The economic outlook remained gloomy. Bank of England policymaker Andrew Sentance said Britain's economy looked set for a "significant slowdown" and might even tip into recession. Lloyds TSB, however, was up 1 percent after Exane BNP upgraded its rating on the lender to "neutral" from "underperform".
Cable & Wireless rose 4.1 percent to top the FTSE 100 gainers, extending the previous session's 2.7 percent gains on its demerger announcement, after UBS and Lehman Brothers both raised their price targets on the stock.
Insurer Friends Provident was 0.8 percent higher. A source familiar with the matter said a number of private equity companies are among the bidders for Lombard, the high-end insurance arm of Friends. AstraZeneca fell 2 percent after Nomura cut its rating on the drugmaker to "reduce" from "neutral".
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