By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K.'s benchmark stock index ended the
week on a positive note on Friday, as gains for mining firms
outweighed another slump for insurers, which were hit hard by plans
of an investigation by the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority into
older pensions and savings plans.
The U.K.'s FTSE 100 picked up 0.4% to close at 6,615.58, ending
the week 0.9% higher.
Miners helped lift the FTSE, finding support in higher metals
prices and the latest comments from Chinese Premier Li Keqiang,
which some analysts interpreted as a hint of upcoming easing
measures to aid the slowing economy. Li said China should pay great
attention to the problems and difficulties in the economic
development and shouldn't overlook "downward risks," according to
state-run Xinhua News Agency.
Further easing measures from Beijing are seen as a positive for
miners, because a high level of growth in China could boost the
demand for natural resources. Shares of Glencore Xstrata PLC
(GLCNF) gained 2%, Anglo American PLC advanced 1.5% and BHP
Billiton PLC (BHP) rose 1.1%.
Oil producers also held to higher ground, with energy issues up
after oil futures (CLK4) extended their rise above $101-a-barrel
level. BP PLC (BP) tacked on 1.6% and Royal Dutch Shell PLC rose
0.9%.
Insurers added pressure on the FTSE, after the Financial Conduct
Authority confirmed it would launch an inquiry into charges and
restrictions on old policies worth billions of pounds. The review
will look into the terms and conditions of policies written in the
30 years up to 2000, due to suspicion that many of them effectively
discriminated against old customers, to the benefit of new
ones.
Shares of Resolution Ltd. slumped 7.1%, Aviva PLC slid 2.8%,
Legal & General Group PLC lost 3.5% and Standard Life PLC fell
1.6%. Also, Prudential PLC gave up 2.6%.
Insurance stocks saw heavy losses recently after U.K finance
minister George Osborne, as part of his annual budget, announced
plans to end a rule that required pension funds to be used to buy
annuities, a key portion of business for some insurance
companies.
On the economic front in the U.K. on Friday, the Office for
National Statistics said gross domestic product in the U.K. in 2013
expanded by 1.7%, lower than a previous estimate of 1.8%. The
growth rate of 0.7% for the fourth quarter was unrevised.
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