LONDON: Britain's top share index slid again on Friday, adding to the previous day's rout, in a turbulent session driven by fears about the outlook for the global economy and the euro zone debt crisis.
The UK benchmark index ended 51.47 points, or 1.0 percent, lower at 5,040.76, having swung through a range of nearly 180 points between a high of 5,107.91 and a low of 4,929.55.
The index suffered its sharpest one-day percentage fall in more than two years on Thursday, shedding 4.5 percent, hit by growing concerns that the US economy is heading towards another recession.
Banking stocks , the main focus of the previous day's retreat on worries some European banks face short-term lending stress, ended broadly weaker on Friday.
Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group were among the FTSE 100's biggest casualties, down 5.4 percent and 4.8 percent respectively.
Traders noted some return of risk appetite as the possibility of using common euro bonds as a way of solving the European sovereign debt crisis came back into focus after the European Commission said it was still considering whether they are feasible.
"An afternoon for the bulls... The market appeared cheap and with eyes on the euro zone and hints that an announcement around joint bonds will be issued to ease the debt crisis, no one wants to go into the weekend short," Mic Mills, head of electronic trading at ETX Capital, said.
Evidence of M&A interest in the technology sector was a rare bright spot amid the gloom.
Autonomy surged nearly 72 percent after Hewlett Packard agreed to buy the enterprise search software specialist for 2,550 pence a share, with some analysts flagging up the possibility of a bidding war.
"With a few companies having the potential firepower to execute a large size M&A deal like Autonomy we think the market could focus on a potential counter offer following HP's offer," Morgan Stanley said in a note.
The bid news benefited other tech firms, with software firm Sage Group up 1.8 percent, and chip designer ARM Holdings 2.4 percent higher.
The deal came just days after US tech firm Google announced it was buying mobile handset maker Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion.
"There's been a bit of subsidence in the selling frenzy. We are considerably down on the week, so maybe people just don't want to go home for the weekend overly short," Michael Hewson, analyst at CMC Markets, said.
"We've had some good news out today; it's not been bad news all the way -- we've had Autonomy, obviously dragging ARM Holdings higher."
Precious metals miners Fresnillo and Randgold Resources climbed 7.1 percent and 3 percent respectively as gold hit a new record, benefiting from a flight to safety after this week's raft of weak economic data.
Mining sector peers however, ended the session in negative territory, despite copper prices steadying on Friday, helped by a weak dollar.
Copyright Reuters, 2011
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