UK's top share index down

Mixed corporate earnings persuaded investors to consolidate recent gains as Britain's top share index closed marginally lower on Thursday, ahead of the long bank holiday weekend. The FTSE 100 index closed down 3.96 points or 0.1 percent at 6,018.30, having jumped 2.1 percent on Wednesday to close back above the 6,000 level for the first time since the start of March.
Analysts said tumultuous trading conditions and light volumes would likely keep the FTSE from attacking fresh 52-week highs around 6,100 in the short term. "The exceptional volatility that has been evident over the last few weeks is likely to have consigned many traders to the sidelines as they wait for a clear trend to emerge, although such a move does not appear to be imminent," Bill McNamara, a technical analyst at Charles Stanley, said.
Earnings news in the UK, United States and Europe dominated investors' thoughts. Autonomy secured top spot among London's blue chip companies, up 7.4 percent, after the enterprise search software maker beat first-quarter earnings expectations. Traders said the results prompted some short covering.
"With the selloff from the October highs it does, however, create some careful positional opportunities on the long side," Atif Latif, director of trading at Guardian Stockbrokers, said. Weakness in mobile telecoms heavyweight Vodafone was the biggest drag on blue chips, down 4.3 percent and taking more than 15 points off the FTSE 100, with traders citing a read-across from weakness in Dutch peer KPN's results and forecasts.
Integrated oils gave up some recent gains. BP fell 1.2 percent as the British firm and its partners involved in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill unleashed a $100 billion-plus barrage of legal claims a year after the rig blast killed 11 workers and created an environmental disaster. On the upside, banks provided the main strength for the FTSE 100 index, led by Barclays, up 1.5 percent after US peer Morgan Stanley posted first-quarter results.
Travel firm TUI Travel was a top FTSE 100 riser, up 3 percent, with traders citing the impact of an upgrade by Deutsche Bank to "buy" from "hold". In the retail sector, clothing chain Next gained 2.1 percent as UBS raised its target price for the stock and traders said Morgan Stanley had name it as its top pick in a more upbeat review of general retailers. British retail sales, meanwhile, rose unexpectedly in March. A disappointing reading of the Philadelphia Fed Business Activity Index put a dampener on sentiment for the afternoon.