Britain's FTSE 100 index marks biggest weekly rise after recent losses

London: Britain's leading share index ended up 1.5 per cent on Friday, marking its biggest weekly rise after recent heavy losses as gains in drugmakers and banks outweighed weakness in miners.

The FTSE 100 was up 61.91 points at 4,288.01 in a choppy session despite falling as much as 0.8 per cent during the session.

Performing sectors

The UK benchmark gained 13.4 per cent over the week but is still down 33 per cent for the year on fears of a severe global recession. Pharmaceuticals were the best-performing sector after the publication of a long-anticipated EU report on generic competition.

Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said preliminary results of a year-long probe showed competition in the pharmaceuticals industry did not work as well as it should.

However, the lack of specific penalties allowed drugmakers to recover recent losses, traders said. AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmith-Kline and Shire gained between 5.1 and 6.2 per cent.

Banks were also firmer, with the FTSE 350 banks index up 2.2 per cent on hopes the sector's woes could be easing as a UK government bailout bears fruit.

Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds TSB and Standard Chartered advanced between 1.3 and 10 per cent.

British retail sales plunged in November at their joint-fastest pace since records began 25 years ago.

A growing number of Britons predicted prices would fall next year.