(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors) London’s top share index climbed higher to close out 2014 on a positive note up by 19 points.
Trading was thin during the last session of the year with many traders on holiday.
The FTSE 100 stood at 6566 at the end of a shortened session on Wednesday.
Hargreaves Landsdown () () and () all added 2%.
House builders () and () were also at the top end of the gauge.
Shares in () also traded higher up 1% still doing well after the collapse of rival City Link earlier this week.
() dipped 4p to 411p () lost 2p to 407p and Shell fell 16p to 2223p as Brent crude showed no signs of a pick up at US$56 a barrel.
() managed to stay in positive territory with shares priced at 4375p even as gold dipped to US$1196.
Market sentiment was dampened slightly by the confirmation that manufacturing activity in China declined in December for the first time in seven months.
US economic data is not going to be posted until after most of Europe has headed home to begin the New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Despite today’s gains Footise finished December at a lower level than it started – the first time that’s happened in a decade. Meanwhile the index is down 3% since the beginning of the year after starting 2014 at 6749.
Compared to other global peers like the US S&P 500 up 12% Shanghai Composite Index 50% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 London’s share index has underperformed.
UK’s blue chip is heavily weighted toward resources and was also affected by Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the sanctions imposed by the West.
Meanwhile China’s economy has cooled throughout the year and the price of oil has collapsed by 50% meaning commodity stocks will be glad to see the back of this year.
“As we look into 2015 the picture is clouded by Greek elections that threaten to reignite the eurozone crisis while there seems no end in sight to the rout in oil prices” said Alastair McCaig at spread betting firm .
Back to today’s events and in the mid-cap space shares in online gambling firm bwin.party are down 2.5% after a late announcement on Tuesday said full year revenues would fall between €608m and €612m short of estimates.
The business blamed weak margins in its sports betting business particularly in December and said the margin damage was caused by several major teams in European leagues enjoying a strong run to the cost of European-facing sports bookmakers.
Intellectual property specialist () advanced 3% after the firm made a million dollar investment into a University of Pennsylvania spin-out business that develops software to control small flying robots.
() shot up by 22% despite losing a court ruling was set to see former Mozambique State Security Minister General Veloso and his associates pay the company's legal costs from the ongoing court case.
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