FTSE: 5,990.39 (–14.70) Mid-250: 11,721.18 (+68.81) Small Cap: 3,269.17 (+20.82):LONDON EQUITIES failed to hang on to earlier gains yesterday, as oil prices climbed, leaving those stocks most exposed to high fuel costs nursing the sharpest losses.

The benchmark FTSE 100 index lost 15 points, or 0.2 per cent to 5,990.39, leaving it 0.2 per cent lower over the week.

“There has been some disappointment that the headline payrolls number wasn’t higher than reported as well as further negative news flow out of Libya, that has pushed oil prices back up again,” said Michael Hewson at CMC Markets.

Causing the most damage was the banking sector. All have now reported full-year earnings for 2010 and there was some disappointment that their good earnings performances had not been stellar.

Higher oil prices left IAG, the operator of British Airways and Iberia Airlines, down 3 per cent at 226.8p, while Carnival, the cruise ship operator, lost 3 per cent to £25.90.

Shares in advertising group WPP were under pressure after a strong run-up to its annual results, which beat forecasts but could not help the stock to sustain a rally of about 29 per cent over the preceding 12 months.

The owner of the Ogilvy Mather agency said a rebound in US markets helped annual like-for-like revenue growth rise 5 per cent. Nonetheless, the shares fell 2.6 per cent to 814p.

“Is this as good as it gets for the world’s largest advertising agency?” asked Manoj Ladwa, senior trader at ETX Capital.

“While the company has guided favourably for the year ahead, having rallied from 300p in 2008, investors are seeing this as an opportunity to take some money off the table.”

There were sustained gains for IMI, the engineer that beat forecasts with full-year profits of £306 million on Thursday. Shares in the Birmingham-based group rose a further 1.5 per cent to 957p.

Lower down, shares in mid-cap budget airline EasyJet rose 0.1 per cent to 353p after it reported a 13.1 per cent rise in the number of passengers it carried in February.

Bodycote, the engineer that specialises in the heat treatment of turbine blades and car components, was the best performer on the FTSE 250 after analysts at UBS raised their rating on the stock. It added 5.1 per cent to 326p. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011)