By Sara Sjolin and Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- London stocks climbed Friday, as gains
for mining issues and banks guided the market's benchmark to its
first weekly rise in a month.
The FTSE 100 Index rose 0.2% to close at 6,557.17, the first
advance in three days.
Mining stocks advanced alongside a rise in prices for copper,
platinum and gold futures following recent sharp drops.
Precious-metals producer Fresnillo PLC added 2.1%, shares of Anglo
American PLC picked up 2%, Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) was up 1.6% and
Glencore Xstrata PLC (GLCNF) rose 0.8%. Among banks, heavyweight
HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBC) climbed 1.9%.
"Equity markets in Europe adopt a calm mood Friday, helped by
gains in Asian markets overnight," wrote Ishaq Siddiqi, market
strategist at ETX Capital. "Ongoing geopolitical tensions in the
Ukraine together with Fed Chair Yellen's remarks regarding monetary
tightening keep us anxious in general but as we head to the end of
the week, traders are demonstrating a level of comfort."
The FTSE 100 index logged a weekly gain of 0.5%, with the modest
move enough for the index to post its first weekly win in four
weeks.
Stocks in London and across Europe fell earlier this week after
Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen suggested that an
interest-rate increase by the central bank may take place sooner
than anticipated by the markets.
Closer to home, London-traded insurance and betting firms were
hit after proposals for those industries were included in the U.K.
finance minister's annual budget. U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer
George Osborne on Wednesday said no one will have to purchase
annuities anymore, but will instead be able to get advice on how to
support their pension savings. Annuities are a key portion of
business for some insurance companies.
On Friday, shares of Legal & General Group PLC fell 3.3% and
Aviva PLC lost 2.7%, giving them weekly declines of 9.6% and 5.3%,
respectively.
Osborne also proposed raising the duty on fixed-odds-betting
terminals to 25% from 20%. Stocks in betting firm William Hill PLC
on Friday shed 2.2% and Ladbrokes PLC lost 2.3%.
Also on the downside Friday, Burberry Group PLC shares (BURBY)
fell 2.1% after Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded its rating
on the luxury-goods company to neutral from buy, saying headwinds
from currency and Japanese-market integration are "too big to
ignore."
Strength particularly in the British pound and the euro will
pressure Burberry's 2015 revenue, said BofA, and while Japan is
essentially an untapped luxury market for Burberry, related
activity there will likely weigh on 2016-2017 earnings.
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