By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
MADRID (MarketWatch) -- Stocks in London were weaker on
Thursday, the last full trading day for 2010, led by losses for
Randgold Resources and Vodafone Group.
The FTSE 100 index fell 0.2% to 5,982.81, after snapping a
five-day winning streak in the prior session with a 0.2% fall. The
index is up around 11% year-to-date.
London stocks will close a half-day on Friday owing to the New
Year's Eve holiday and won't reopen until Tuesday.
David Buik, strategist at BGC Partners, said U.K. equities are
heading for a quiet end to 2010, after substantial gains in
December as the FTSE 100 danced around 6,000.
He is upbeat for 2011, at least for the first half. "With 70% of
the FTSE 100 earnings coming from overseas earnings, there is no
reason to believe that 'lean and mean' companies will do anything
but deliver decent profits and rewarding dividends," he said in
emailed comments.
"The FTSE could reach 7,000 by the end of the summer and then
may well pull back to 6,400 by the end of the year, as austerity
measures start to take their toll, coupled with ongoing issues over
European sovereign debt, which threaten to regularly rear their
ugly heads next year," he added.
Gold miners giving up gains from the prior session, following
record levels for the precious metal on Tuesday. February gold
futures fell $3.30 at $1,410.10 an ounce.
Shares of Randgold Resources Ltd. slipped 1.2%.
On the plus side, silver miner Fresnillo PLC rose 1.2% after the
precious metal reportedly reached a fresh 30-year peak, while
copper hit $9,550 a ton on the London Metal Exchange.
Energy stocks were also weaker as crude oil slipped 2 cents to
$91.10, after falling off a two-year high on Wednesday ahead of
weekly supply data due on Thursday.
In the energy sector, shares of BG Group PLC fell 1.3% and Essar
Energy PLC dropped 0.8%.
Shares of Vodafone Group PLC (VOD) were also off 1.2%. The Daily
Mail reported Thursday that the mobile group is ready to open
negotiations over the sale of its 7 billion pound ($10.8 billion)
44% stake in French wireless group SFR to Vivendi SA . The Daily
Mail cited one source as saying the sale would leave a hole in
Vodafone's European coverage. Shares of Vivendi fell 1.2% in
Paris.