London close: Barclays weighs on the Footsie

London equities finished the session slightly higher, up by 0.08% at 6,560.25 points or by 5.40 points. The benchmark came off earlier highs following a weaker than expected report on housing Stateside and after a report in the Financial Times said that Barclays may tomorrow announce a greater than 5bn pound rights issue, with some analysts calling it a capitulation to regulators.Nevertheless, in all probability most traders are probably opting to keep their powder dry ahead of the US Federal Reserve meeting and monthly employment reports due out later in the week. Stoking investor sentiment on Monday were two multi-billion pound transactions involving European companies [and US outfits], French advertising giant Publicis and Irish drug maker Elan. More important even, a growing trickle of market commentary seems to be pointing to the risk that the US Federal Reserve could move to taper its quantitative easing after September, later than what the consensus had until recently been expecting. Back in the UK, today´s trio of second-tier macroeconomic reports drew a rather weak response from economists. As regards the latest lending and money supply figures economists at Barclays Research indicated that there are as yet no apparent signs in the data that recent measures to bias the Funding for Lending Scheme´s impact towards small and medium sized enterprises are having any effect. On a more positive note, the CBI´s reported sales balance improved to a reading of +17 in July (Consensus: +10) from +1 in June. Capital Economics however had this to say about the data: "[...], the boost provided by temporary factors, including heavy discounting and good weather, suggests that the underlying recovery in the sector remains modest.]Acting as a backdrop, overnight Chinese authorities announced that they intend to cap the government spending deficit at 3% of GDP, which some see as another indication that the days of largess are over in the Asian giant.UK house prices grew 0.3% in July, down from a 0.4% rise in June, according to figures from property tracking website Hometrack.In a research note published this morning analysts at Nomura downgraded their view on UK equities - within a pan-European context - to underweight from neutral. Foremost as a reason behind the above they cited the fact that the UK is relatively overweighted versus Europe towards miners.FTSE 100: Barclays capitulates to regulators? Barclays announced that it will update the market tomorrow - alongside its latest results - regarding weekend reports that it may announce a £4bn cash-call imminently. Furthermore, late in the session the Financial Times said that the lender could announce a greater than £5bn cash call. Even so, at least six brokers reiterated their recommendations and price targets on Barclays throughout the day. Interestingly, Investec believes it would mark a capitulation to regulators´ demands for capital that it does not need. For other market participants, however, the timing chosen by Barclays may be a function of the fact that it sees an opportunity to benefit from increased investor interest in its sector. On Friday investors learned that China´s sovereign wealth fund - CIC - has been shifting its asset allocation towards global banks year-to-date, as well as in favour of US equities. WPP rode higher on the coattails of the weekend announcement of the merger of its two main rivals, French group Publicis and US peer Omnicom, to form a $35bn behemoth. The transaction will see WPP lose its standing as the world´s largest advertising company. Nevertheless, gains in the were substantially less by the close.Another US firm, Michigan based Perrigo, a maker of over the counter medicines, has agreed to buy Irish rival Elan for $8.6bn to gain a low-tax base for international expansion. That is benefiting Shire stock this morning.Consumer products giant Reckitt Benckiser said full-year revenue growth would be at the upper end of expectations after a strong first half. The company reported revenues rose to £5.0bn in the six months to the end of June from £4.7bn in the same period last year. Analysts at Jefferies, however, characterised the results as "mixed." They also highlighted the fact that pharmaceutical like-for-like revenues declined by more than expected (second quarter: -12% versus consensus: -10.5%) and margins dropped substantially to 57.1% (Consensus: 60.7%), adding to the lack of visibility on the division's long-term prospects. Furthermore, if the pharmaceuticals division is excluded then the company is trading at a 5% premium to its peers on their estimates. Hammerson hiked its interim dividend after it kept it occupancy levels and rental income growth above target. The shopping centre property group said its underlying net rental income grew by 2.5% in the first half compared with 2.1% growth in 2012. It aims for growth in excess of 2% each year.Aberdeen Asset Management saw clients pull a net £3.4bn out of its funds in the three months to the end of June amid volatile market conditions. It said about £2.5bn of the net outflows occurred in June alone but that the outflows were mainly from lower margin products.Testing, inspection and certification services group Intertek fell after reporting slightly weaker than expected interim profits before tax and operating (EBITA) margins.FTSE 250: Hiscox led gains for much of the session after interimsHiscox - the insurer - led gains on the FTSE 250 after announcing profits before tax of £180.7m. Those came alongside a 12.3% rise in gross premiums to £1,017.9m and an increase in the interim dividend by 16.7% to 7.0p from 6.0p. The shares have today hit a new record high.Despite what Investec characterised as solid interim results at aerospace components manufacturer Senior the broker was of the opinion that the shares, which are trading at the top end of their historic valuation range, currently look fully valued.FTSE 100 - RisersRandgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,839.00p +3.77%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,051.00p +2.44%Shire Plc (SHP) 2,382.00p +2.36%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 219.80p +2.28%Anglo American (AAL) 1,422.00p +2.23%Antofagasta (ANTO) 876.00p +2.04%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,308.00p +1.63%G4S (GFS) 226.20p +1.48%ARM Holdings (ARM) 858.50p +1.48%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 834.00p +1.46%FTSE 100 - FallersBarclays (BARC) 309.05p -3.47%Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,977.00p -2.81%Schroders (SDR) 2,445.00p -1.96%Aggreko (AGK) 1,750.00p -1.57%Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 402.50p -1.30%Pearson (PSON) 1,312.00p -1.28%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 387.00p -1.28%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,485.50p -1.10%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 284.00p -1.01%BG Group (BG.) 1,179.50p -0.88%FTSE 250 - RisersHochschild Mining (HOC) 181.90p +6.69%Hiscox Ltd (HSX) 643.00p +5.32%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 116.80p +3.73%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 174.40p +3.50%888 Holdings (888) 161.00p +3.21%Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 211.60p +2.72%COLT Group SA (COLT) 104.80p +2.44%Lonmin (LMI) 319.10p +2.28%Alent (ALNT) 365.10p +2.21%Spirent Communications (SPT) 130.00p +2.20%FTSE 250 - FallersSenior (SNR) 258.50p -5.14%Bumi (BUMI) 220.30p -3.76%Fidessa Group (FDSA) 2,000.00p -3.38%F&C Asset Management (FCAM) 95.10p -3.30%Keller Group (KLR) 1,089.00p -3.20%Dialight (DIA) 1,100.00p -3.17%Salamander Energy (SMDR) 125.00p -3.10%Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 741.00p -2.76%Derwent London (DLN) 2,366.00p -2.55%Drax Group (DRX) 631.50p -2.17%FTSE TechMARK - RisersVislink (VLK) 37.75p +5.23%Vectura Group (VEC) 95.50p +3.80%Ark Therapeutics Group (AKT) 0.48p +3.19%Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 1.50p +2.74%SDL (SDL) 314.50p +2.53%Promethean World (PRW) 14.25p +1.79%Phoenix IT Group (PNX) 159.00p +1.27%Wolfson Microelectronics (WLF) 149.00p +1.19%Sepura (SEPU) 141.75p +0.89%BATM Advanced Communications Ltd. (BVC) 15.50p +0.81%FTSE TechMARK - FallersSkyepharma (SKP) 64.50p -3.37%Gresham Computing (GHT) 87.50p -2.78%Optos (OPTS) 157.00p -1.88%Kofax (KFX) 340.00p -1.52%E2V Technologies (E2V) 128.00p -0.78%Microgen (MCGN) 138.25p -0.18%IShares Euro Gov Bond 7-10YR UCITS ETF (IEGM) € 177.91 -0.08%Innovation Group (TIG) 29.00p 0.00%Triad Group (TRD) 10.00p 0.00%Antisoma (ASM) 1.55p 0.00%AB