LONDON MARKETS: London Stocks Gain, Move Toward A Weekly Rise

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) ---- London stocks climbed Friday, as gains for mining issues guided the market's benchmark toward its first weekly rise in a month.

The FTSE 100 Index rose 0.4% to 6,566.92, where all mining stocks advanced alongside a rise in prices for copper, silver and gold futures following drops to their lowest levels since late February. Precious-metals producer Fresnillo PLC jumped 2%, shares of Anglo American PLC and Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) were each up 1.8% and Glencore Xstrata PLC (GLCNF) rose 1.1%.

"Equity markets in Europe adopt a calm mood Friday, helped by gains in Asian markets overnight," wrote Ishaq Siddiqi, market strategist at ETX Capital. "Ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Ukraine together with Fed Chair Yellen's remarks regarding monetary tightening keep us anxious in general but as we head to the end of the week, traders are demonstrating a level of comfort."

The FTSE 100 index stood to log a weekly gain of 0.5%, with the modest move enough for the index to post its first weekly win in four weeks.

Stocks in London and across Europe fell earlier this week after Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen suggested that an interest-rate increase by the central bank may take place sooner than anticipated by the markets.

Closer to home, London-traded insurance and betting firms were hit after proposals for those industries were included in the U.K. finance minister's annual budget. U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne on Wednesday said no one will have to purchase annuities anymore, but will instead be able to get advice on how to support their pension savings. Annuities are a key portion of business for some insurance companies. On Friday, shares of Legal & General Group PLC fell 2.6% and Aviva PLC lost 1.2%, setting up for weekly declines of 8.8% and 3.8%, respectively.

Osborne also said proposed raising the duty on fixed-odds-betting terminals to 25% from 20%. Stock in betting firm William Hill PLC on Friday shed 0.7% and Ladbrokes PLC lost 1.4%.

Also on the downside Friday, Burberry Group PLC shares fell 1.8% after Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded its rating on the luxury-goods company to neutral from buy, saying headwinds from currency and Japanese-market integration are "too big to ignore". Strength particularly in the British pound and the euro will pressure Burberry's 2015 revenue, said BofA, and while Japan is essentially an untapped luxury market for Burberry, related activity there will likely weigh on 2016-2017 earnings.

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