London close: Stocks make modest gains in final session of 2014

London shares finished the final session of 2014 on a positive note, but fell short of last year's closing mark amid lower oil prices and geopolitical turmoil.

The FTSE 100 Index closed 19.09 points up at 6,566.09 in a shortened session due to New Year's Eve, down from the 6,749 it reached on the final day of 2013.

Markets struggled to move up a gear on thin trading and news that Chinese manufacturing activity declined in December for the first time in seven months.

The final reading of the HSBC China manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) was revised up to 49.6 from the initial estimate of 49.5, but still below the break-even mark of 50 which it reached in November.

The Chinese government's own manufacturing PMI is due out overnight and is forecast to drop to 50 from 50.3 in November.

Analysts said the Footsie had looked like it could break the 7000 level during the year, but political turmoil and plummeting crude prices dented those hopes.

Although US quantitative easing ended, the conflict between Ukraine and pro-Moscow separatists, as well as unrest in the Middle East, rocked markets.

Towards the end of the year, sentiment also took a hit from renewed political uncertainty in Greece where elections are looming following the failure to elect a new president.

Oil prices ended the year with fresh falls. A barrel of Brent crude was 3.5% down at just under $56 by the close in London while US light crude had dipped 2.5% to $52.7.

Alastair McCaig at spread-betting firm IG said: "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.

“The FTSE lagged its peers for most of 2014 and, with conditions as they are, it will struggle to keep up in the year ahead.”

Oil stocks spring a leak on falling prices

Oil shares slipped on the lower crude prices, with Weir Group off 15p at 1851p and BG Group down 3.6p at 865p.

But supermarket Tesco gained 2.1p to 189p as it announced a further step in its management shake-up by replacing the chairman of its executive pay committee.

Shopping centre developer Capital & Regional lost 0.25p to 52.5p despite saying it is set to benefit from tax breaks after converting to a real estate investment trust.

Business communications supplier Daisy Group, which is being taken over by a private equity consortium, lifted 0.12p to 183.12p after posting narrower half-year losses, although revenue fell.

Market Movers
techMARK 2,961.42 +0.35%
FTSE 100 6,566.09 +0.29%
FTSE 250 16,085.44 +0.59%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 137.80p +2.68%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 471.00p +2.59%
Kingfisher (KGF) 340.50p +2.44%
Pearson (PSON) 1,190.00p +1.80%
Meggitt (MGGT) 519.00p +1.76%
3i Group (III) 450.20p +1.67%
SABMiller (SAB) 3,361.00p +1.45%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 462.40p +1.45%
Next (NXT) 6,820.00p +1.41%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 432.20p +1.38%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
TUI AG Reg Shs (Post- 16/12/14)(DI) (TUIJ) 1,031.00p -2.27%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,851.00p -0.80%
Sage Group (SGE) 465.70p -0.66%
GKN (GKN) 344.00p -0.58%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,636.00p -0.55%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 711.00p -0.49%
BG Group (BG.) 865.00p -0.41%
Glencore (GLEN) 298.80p -0.40%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,058.00p -0.38%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 413.90p -0.36%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Indivior (INDV) 149.40p +5.88%
Saga (SAGA) 155.10p +5.44%
Infinis Energy (INFI) 220.00p +5.26%
Allied Minds (ALM) 367.00p +5.16%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 233.90p +3.91%
Redrow (RDW) 295.50p +3.36%
Synthomer (SYNT) 237.00p +3.36%
Serco Group (SRP) 160.70p +3.21%
Afren (AFR) 47.28p +3.19%
Galliford Try (GFRD) 1,288.00p +3.04%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Alent (ALNT) 321.00p -2.73%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,047.00p -2.60%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 5,555.00p -2.54%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 194.00p -1.92%
Grainger (GRI) 188.00p -1.83%
SEGRO (SGRO) 370.30p -1.70%
Ladbrokes (LAD) 110.50p -1.69%
AO World (AO.) 280.20p -1.68%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 141.50p -1.53%
Computacenter (CCC) 586.50p -1.51%