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LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London ended in the red on Friday with heavyweight oil majors weighing on the FTSE 100, as the price of Brent oil sharply declined. The FTSE 100 index closed down 5.94 points or 0.1% at 7,428.19, ending the week 0.4% lower.The FTSE 250 closed down 14.18 points or 0.1% at 19,856.87. ending the week up 0.1%. The AIM All-Share closed up 4.21 points or 0.4% at 969.40, ending the week up 1.4%. The Cboe UK 100 closed down 0.1% at 12,596.42, the Cboe UK 250 up 0.1% at 17,795.49, and the Cboe UK Small Companies down 0.2% at 11,602.75."The FTSE 100's relatively high exposure to the commodity sector is why the index is underperforming its continental counterparts. The sharp sell-off in oil is hurting has hammered the energy sector, and the miners are lower too. The London equity benchmark reached a six month high during the week, and the wider sentiment is still positive," said David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets UK. On the London Stock Exchange, WPP ended the best blue chip performer, up 5.4% after the advertising firm said it is making good progress, despite a sluggish performance in North America.WPP's revenue for the first quarter of 2019 rose 0.9% at reported currency to GBP3.59 billion. Excluding currency movements, revenue was down 0.6%, and like-for-like it fell 1.3%. Minus pass-through costs, revenue declined 0.7%, or 2.3% constant currency, to GBP2.93 billion, and slipped 2.8% on like-for-like basis.Like-for-like revenue minus pass-through costs in North America fell 8.5%, making it WPP's weakest performing region, due to continued losses among automotive, pharmaceutical, and fast-moving consumer goods clients."Despite the paltry numbers, investors will be relieved to see things haven't got worse - expectations for the full year may not have improved, but they haven't gone the wrong way either." said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Sophie Lund-Yates.In addition, WPP is selling an undisclosed stake in market research business Kantar, with a high level of interest from "high quality" potential partners."The final thing on everyone's mind is the sale of market research business, Kantar. It's a chunky business on WPP's books and its sale will help efforts to simplify the business. Following recent speculation the group might struggle to find a buyer, the group confirmed today that the sale process was in fact going well," Lund-Yates added.At the other end of the large cap index, Just Eat ended the worst performer down 4.6% after the online takeaway platform said it made a solid start to 2019, with international strength offsetting some headwinds in the UK. Orders in the UK in the three months to March rose 7.4% year-on-year to 31.9 million.However, Just Eat said UK growth was held back by a strong comparative the year before, unseasonably warm weather during February, and the Easter weekend falling during the second quarter. The UK accounts for around half of the company's total orders.Just Eat, which is under increased pressure from rivals Deliveroo and Uber Eats, said it expects to see an improvement in UK order growth during the rest of the current year.Royal Bank of Scotland closed down 4.4% after the state-backed lender reported a fall in first-quarter profit, hurt by intensifying competition and Brexit uncertainty.The bank's operating pretax profit for the three months to March end decreased 17% to GBP1.01 billion from GBP1.21 billion the year before. First quarter total income decreased 7.9% to GBP3.04 billion from GBP3.30 billion, with net-interest income decreasing 5.6% to GBP2.03 billion from GBP2.15 billion.RBS's CET1 ratio - a key measure of a bank's financial strength - at the end of March was 16.2%, down from 16.4% at the end of the first quarter a year ago.The bank - still 62% owned by the UK taxpayer - warned uncertainty over Brexit would likely delay borrowing by business customers, making growth more challenging.On Thursday, Ross McEwan said he is to step down as chief executive of RBS."RBS added a few more clouds to the general gloom, with a prominent note of caution on the potential for Brexit to disrupt performance in the year ahead, and the departure of CEO Ross McEwan both negative for investor sentiment," Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Nick Hyett noted.Glencore closed down 3.5% after the miner late Thursday said it has been informed that the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has launched an investigation into whether the commodities trader has violated certain provisions of the Commodities Exchange Act.The investigation is currently at an early stage and follows a similar scope to the ongoing investigation by the US Department of Justice. Glencore said it will cooperate with the Commission's investigation.Oil majors BP and Royal Dutch Shell 'A' and 'B' shares closed down 2.3%, 1.5% and 1.7% respectively, tracking oil prices lower.Brent oil was quoted at USD71.90 a barrel at the London equities close, down from USD75.00 at the London equities close Thursday. The North Sea benchmark had breached the USD75 mark for the first time in 2019 on Thursday.Oil prices retreated from 2019 highs amid concerns oil cartel OPEC may raise output to make up for a decline in exports from Iran."Clearly, prices had been technically 'overbought' and a correction of some sort was imminent. It remains to be seen how far oil prices will fall given the still supportive market conditions, with the OPEC+ group of producers continuing to restrict supply and the US government tightening sanctions against Iran. On top of this, you have ongoing production outages from Venezuela and yesterday an important pipeline in Russia had to be suspended due to contamination," said Forex.com analyst Fawad Razaqzada.Moreover oil prices were dealt a further blow after US President Donald Trump said he called OPEC and demanded lower prices for energy, amid a spike in the cost of gasoline at the pump in the US.The president claimed, without empirical evidence, that gasoline prices are already falling. It was unclear what Trump meant when he said he called the cartel."The gasoline prices are coming down. I called up OPEC. I said, You have got to bring them down," Trump told reporters at the White House. "We are doing great."In the FTSE 250, Computacenter was the standout performer, ending up 18% after the IT services provider reported a better-than-expected first-quarter trading performance.The company, which provides computer services to public and private sector customers, also said that it remains on track to deliver on expectations for the year as a whole. Computacenter said that challenging economic conditions in the company's operating markets do not seem to be deterring customers from investing in technology.At group level, the company's revenue and profitability for the three months to March 31 were ahead of the comparative period on a like-for-like basis and before the positive impact of acquisitions. In the UK, Computacenter saw revenue growth despite a large one-off software licence deal in the comparative first quarter of 2018.In addition, UBS raised the stock to Buy from Neutral.Languishing at the other end of the midcaps, Ferrexpo closed down 29% after the iron ore pellet producer said Deloitte has resigned as the company's auditor with immediate effect, amid a spat over potential links between the company's chief executive and a charity being probed for misuse of funds.The company, without giving any further explanation regarding the auditor's resignation, said it will provide further updates in due course. Ferrexpo disagreed with its auditor's conclusion of a link between Chief Executive and controlling shareholder Kostyantin Zhevago and Blooming Land Charity, which is being investigated for possible discrepancies in the use of funds.On Tuesday, Ferrexpo said an independent review committee found Blooming Land was not related to the company or its executive management. However, Deloitte was unable to reach the same conclusion."The fact that Deloitte walked away from the company abruptly sends out a negative message. Ferrexpo might struggle to find a new auditor, and investors are likely to remain bearish on the stock in meantime," noted Madden. The pound was quoted at USD1.2929 at the London equities close, up from USD1.2897 at the close Thursday.In Paris the CAC 40 ended up 0.2%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended up 0.3%. On the continent, Deutsche Bank ended down 1.9% in Frankfurt after the German bank reported a sharp rise in first quarter income but saw a fall in profit in a "very challenging market environment".In the three months to March 31, the lender reported a 68% increase in net income to EUR201 million from EUR120 million the year before. Deutsche Bank recorded pretax profit of EUR292 million in the first quarter, down 32% from the EUR432 million recorded in the corresponding period a year earlier. The lender booked EUR604 million in bank levy charges in the quarter.The bank's total net revenue decreased 9.0% to EUR6.35 billion, with Deutsche's Corporate & Investment Bank seeing revenue slip 16% to EUR3.33 billion. The lender's Private & Commercial Bank saw revenue decrease 4.9% to EUR2.51 billion.On Thursday, Deutsche Bank and peer Commerzbank abandoned merger talks, saying the deal would have been too risky. The German banks had only entered formal merger talks last month. Commerzbank closed up 3.7% in Frankfurt.In France, oil major Total reported its net income group share for the first-quarter rose to USD3.11 billion or USD1.16 per share from USD2.64 billion or USD0.99 per share in the prior year.However, adjusted net income group share declined 4% to USD2.76 billion from the prior year, reflecting the increase in the net cost of net debt compared to a year ago mainly due to the rise in US dollar interest rates. Adjusted earnings per share decreased by 6% to USD1.02, from USD1.09 in the prior year.Total's shares closed down 1.1% in Paris. The euro stood at USD1.1158 at the European equities close, marginally higher than USD1.1140 late Thursday.Stocks in New York were broadly lower at the London equities close as US earnings season continues full force. The DJIA was down 0.1%, the S&P 500 index flat and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.3%.Exxon Mobil and Chevron Corp both reported disappointing first-quarter earnings, with the former coming off worse for wear in the battle of the US oil majors. The results of both companies were hurt by lower crude oil prices and weak refining margins. Exxon Mobil's results missed analysts' expectations, while Chevron's earnings beat estimates and its revenues missed expectations.Exxon reported a 49% decline in profit for the first quarter from last year, while Chevron's profit decreased 27%.Exxon reported total revenues and other income declined 6.7% to USD63.63 billion from USD68.21 billion in the previous-year quarter. Wall Street expected revenues of USD64.82 billion.Meanwhile, Chevron's first-quarter net income declined to USD2.65 billion or USD1.39 per share from USD3.64 billion or USD1.90 per share in the year-ago period. Analysts expected earnings of USD1.30 per share.Total revenues and other income for the quarter decreased 6.8% to USD35.20 billion from USD37.76 billion last year. Wall Street analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of USD38.42 billion.Exxon was down 2.8% and Chevron was off 1.5% in New York. Intel dropped 10% on Wall Street after the semiconductor maker reported better than expected first quarter results, but provided disappointing guidance.Shares in Ford Motor were up 10% in New York after the carmaker reported first-quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.Elsewhere, Uber Technologies is set to become the latest 'Unicorn' to stomp its way onto the New York Stock Exchange.A "unicorn" is a young, start-up private company that is valued at USD1 billion.The hail-riding company is set to pitch shares in a range between USD44 and USD50 each as it closes in on an initial public offering which could value the firm at up to USD90 billion, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing.Previously, it was reported that Uber's valuation would be around USD120 billion.On the economic front, a report from the Commerce Department showing an unexpected acceleration in GDP growth initially generated positive sentiment, although analysts have subsequently expressed concerns about the underlying data.Preliminary data showed real gross domestic product jumped by 3.2% in the first quarter after climbing by 2.2% in the fourth quarter of 2018.The acceleration in the pace of growth came as a surprise to economists, who had expected GDP to increase by 2.1%.However, Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics, said: "Taking out the over-sized boosts from net trade, inventories and highways investment, which will all be reversed in the coming quarters, growth was only around 1.0%.""Under those circumstances, we continue to expect that overall growth will slow this year, forcing the Fed to begin cutting interest rates before year-end," he added.Gold was quoted at USD1,287.14 an ounce at the London equities close, up from USD1,280.05 late Thursday.The UK corporate calendar on Monday has first-quarter results from Russian steelmaker Evraz and third-quarter results from asset manager River & Mercantile Group.The economic events calendar on Monday has eurozone consumer confidence at 1000 BST and Ireland retail sales at 1100 BST. In the afternoon there is US personal consumption expenditures price index data at 1330 BST- the core reading is the US Federal Reserve's preferred gauge of inflation. In addition, financial markets in Japan will be closed throughout next week to commemorate Golden Week, containing a number of Japanese holidays.