London close: Footsie closes higher, despite afternoon sell-off

After a solid start on the back of positive developments in Europe, the Footsie trimmed gains in the afternoon as investors looked to lock in profits following a strong finish on Thursday. Despite touching as high as the 5,967 level before midday, the Footsie steadily declined to close at 5,935.Meanwhile, markets in the US opened cautiously, after the US Senate shot down a lower house proposal which would have granted a rise in the debt limit in exchange for passing a balanced budget amendment. In London, the financial sector was mixed, despite rising strongly early on following yesterday's Eurozone deal to bailout Greece. Shares soared in the previous session after the region's leaders agreed a new aid package for Greece and an overhaul of the Eurozone sovereign rescue fund. While RBS bucked the trend amongst financials - with the part-nationalised bank gaining nearly 2% - other financial shares lost some of their earlier buoyancy. Banking peers Barclays, Lloyds and Standard Chartered and insurance peers Prudential and Old Mutual were prominent among the fallers. A notable mover of the day was no frills airline easyJet, which surged 18% on the FTSE 250 after reporting strong demand in its July-September quarter and expecting full-year pre-tax profits to fall in the range of £200m to £230m, assuming normal market conditions. Aviva rose higher on the FTSE 100 after takeover rumours regarding the insurance firm resurfaced which cited two European peers (Allianz and Zurich Financial) to be potential suitors. Engineering peers IMI and Weir were among the top performers.Silver mining giant Fresnillo, too, was a high riser tracking silver prices upwards. Silver futures were 2.4% up at $39.88 just before the close. Vedanta, Lonmin and Anglo American were also helped by rising metals prices.Drugs giants AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline fell into the red after UBS cut its rating on the European pharmaceutical sector from 'small overweight' to 'neutral', saying the defensive sector that benefited from the economic soft patch and the sovereign debt crisis will be hit by the turnaround in these lead indicators. Vodafone was firmer after reporting that revenue from its core business grew by 1.5% in the second quarter of 2011. Meanwhile, sector peer Cable & Wireless Communications, which operates telecomms businesses in the Caribbean, Panama, Macau and Monaco, underwhelmed the market after saying that the performance in its first quarter has been "satisfactory". Shares fell 3%.Outsourcing giant Capita was in demand after the acquisition of the pensions administration and software business of NorthgateArinso for £27.5m. BCFTSE 100 - RisersFresnillo (FRES) 1,681.00p +2.25%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 36.86p +2.25%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 243.00p +2.19%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,478.00p +2.11%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 361.10p +2.09%IMI (IMI) 1,084.00p +2.07%Capita Group (CPI) 700.00p +2.04%International Power (IPR) 309.10p +2.01%Vodafone Group (VOD) 164.55p +2.01%British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,847.50p +1.81%FTSE 100 - FallersAstraZeneca (AZN) 3,054.00p -1.23%Essar Energy (ESSR) 380.00p -1.04%Sage Group (SGE) 280.80p -0.95%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,614.00p -0.95%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 47.12p -0.91%Old Mutual (OML) 130.40p -0.76%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,422.00p -0.70%Prudential (PRU) 694.00p -0.64%Amec (AMEC) 1,118.00p -0.62%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 116.60p -0.51%