By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch
MADRID (MarketWatch) -- The U.K.'s benchmark stock index ended
higher on Friday, buoyed by gains for mining shares such as
Randgold Resources Ltd. and Fresnillo PLC.
The FTSE 100 index rose 0.3% to 6,499.99.
Thursday's session knocked nearly 1.6% off the index, which was
the biggest one-day and percentage decline since June 20, 2013. The
losses were sparked by fears about imminent tapering of the U.S.
Federal Reserve's bond-buying program.
Mining stocks rose on Friday along with gold prices.
Shares of Randgold Resources surged 5.3%, Fresnillo PLC climbed
4.2%, and Anglo American PLC rose 3.5%.
The session's biggest gainer was Persimmon PLC , which rose
8.3%. The shares fell sharply the prior session.
Barclays initiated coverage on three iron-ore stocks outside the
main U.K. index: Ferrexpo PLC , up 3.2%; African Minerals Ltd. ,
off nearly 3%; and London Mining PLC , which rose 0.5%. Ferrexpo
was started at equal weight, while London Mining and African
Minerals were started at underweight. Read also: Time to look at
gold, silver, miners and ETFs?
There was some downside pressure among the heavyweights. Shares
of WPP PLC dropped 0.3%, ARM Holdings PLC (ARMHY) fell 0.5% and
Experian PLC fell 0.8%.
Among insurers, shares of Standard Life PLC fell 0.9%, while
Aviva PLC fell 0.5% after analysts at Exane BNP Paribas cut the
shares to neutral from outperform. The analysts also said they
prefer Standard Life, where they see "significant operational
leverage from the investments unit.
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