Leading UK shares closed lower on Friday, cooling off after a run which swept them to 39-month highs on Thursday, with oil shares leading the way down as crude held near lower levels, although fuel-hungry British Airways gained. Oil majors fell after the crude price steadied following a $2 drop on Thursday as Hurricane Emily looked set to miss key offshore Caribbean facilities.
BP closed down 1.1 percent. Shell lost 1.5 percent after it was also hurt by news that Gazprom considered Shell's assets on Sakhalin to be worth less in a planned asset swap with the Russian gas producer after Shell doubled the project's [nL15116066] cost estimates this week.
The FTSE 100 index closed 28.9 points lower at 5,230.8. The index finished the week barely a couple of points down on last Friday's close.
A mixed bag of US data did little to enthuse investors who were determined to take money off the table in the wake of a near 2 percent rally following last week's London bombings.
Market watchers said Thursday's 39-month high had been bound to attract sellers, although some added that the upward trend could yet reassert itself against a background of mostly benign US corporate and economic data and the prospect of lower UK interest rates.
"We got up to a three-year high yesterday; it's not surprising to see a little profit-taking. The market has pretty much shunned what happened in London last week in a matter of days. It's got a little bit ahead of itself. It was pretty predictable," said Jim McCafferty, head of research at stockbrokers Seymour Pierce.
Brewin Dolphin analyst Richard Lake said technical analysis shows plenty of life in the recent bull trend.
"While the Footsie index might soon hesitate for a while, its overall chart pattern remains very bullish. Also Wall Street has begun to gather some upward momentum," Lake wrote in a note to clients.
UK flag carrier British Airways was a top gainer with a 1.6 percent rise as its fuel bills looked set to dip. A note from investment bank Goldman Sachs reiterated an "outperform" rating and tweaked current year earnings estimates higher, giving buyers extra incentive.
Anglo-American fund firm Amvescap, eyed as a bid target by at least one Canadian fund manager, lost 0.9 percent after it appointed a new chief executive, which analysts said made it a less likely target.
"It seems unlikely that the new CEO will want to put the business up for sale," Bridgewell analyst Geoff Miller said.
Miners fell back along with drifting commodities prices. Rio Tinto was down 2 percent, while BHP Billiton and Antofagasta both fell by around 1.6 percent.
Midcaps featured a 2.5 percent rise in industrial materials firm Cookson to 354 pence on take-over speculation. The Daily Mail's market roundup said a US rival was eyeing a bid at 420 pence a share but did not identify a potential predator.
Other midcaps saw budget airline easyJet gain 2.8 percent on the oil price move. Going the other way, oil company Venture Production fell 3.5 percent after cutting production forecasts, citing its exit from operations in Trinidad and minor delays in starting key projects.
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