London close: Footsie winds down as 2011 nears

London closed shy of the 6,000 mark after a late dip in very light volumes with little for either buyers or sellers to get their teeth into. Fresnillo was an exception thanks to another strong day on the metals exchanges as silver hit a new 30-year high. Copper traded above $9,500 per tonne on the LME, while palladium reached a nine-year high.Rio Tinto, Lonmin and BHP Billiton weakened late on. A report today suggested that BHP is running the rule over Anardarko Petroleum, one of BP's partners in the ill-starred Macondo, Gulf of Mexico prospect.BP, meanwhile, was off the pace as it faces more US litigation with an investor lawsuit claiming the oil giant repeatedly lied about its safety record over the past five years. It has already been sued by the US over the Macondo disaster.Yesterday's two big risers Randgold and African Barrick both ran into profit taking, while Antofagasta got the cold shoulder despite the strong copper price.Big contracts continue to roll in at Petrofac with the fabrications group now chosen to develop the SEPAT offshore early production system on the East coast of Peninsular Malaysia.Also celebrating contract wins is infrastructure contractor Balfour Beatty, though, unlike Petrofac, its share price is not deriving any benefit from the news. The company has won HK$2.3m of contracts in Hong Kong through a subsidiary.Simon Property is edging closer to launching a full-scale takeover bid for Capital Shopping Centres, the owner of 14 UK shopping centres, after it agreed a £3bn loan from a consortium of banks yesterday. Uranium miner Berkeley Resources' exclusivity agreement with Russian mining giant Severstal has ended after the two failed to agree takeover terms. The announcement has raised fears that the deal may not now go ahead although Berkeley said it was still in talks with Severstal.TUI Travel is lower after it parted company with auditor KPMG yesterday after the relationship broke down following the discovery of £117m worth of irrecoverable balances after the integration of the tour operator's IT systems. PricewaterhouseCoopers is replacing KPMG as group auditor.AIM and Frankfurt listed nickel and copper miner Regency Mines has moved into the black for the first time. The company reported a profit before tax of £0.60m in the year to 30 June, compared to a loss of £0.71m the year before.Speciality pharmaceutical company ProStrakan has received US regulatory approval for its FORTESTA drug, which has triggered an approval milestone payment of $12.5m from Endo Pharmaceuticals, the company that has the exclusive commercial rights to the product in the US.FTSE 100 - RisersFresnillo (FRES) 1,661.00p +2.59%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,559.00p +1.10%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,601.00p +1.07%Cairn Energy (CNE) 422.70p +0.91%FTSE 100 - FallersRandgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,315.00p -2.39%Aggreko (AGK) 1,496.00p -2.03%Prudential (PRU) 668.00p -1.91%BAE Systems (BA.) 330.70p -1.58%FTSE 250 - RisersKenmare Resources (KMR) 33.90p +8.10%AZ Electronic Materials SA (WI) (AZEM) 309.90p +4.52%Rightmove (RMV) 789.00p +2.53%Sportingbet (SBT) 60.50p +2.20%FTSE 250 - FallersRank Group (RNK) 125.00p -6.23%COLT Group SA (COLT) 129.30p -4.01%AG Barr (BAG) 1,092.00p -3.87%Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 48.61p -3.74%