London close: Lower finish as Libya turmoil persists

The top share index closed in the red going into the weekend as the spectre of high oil prices remerged amid continuing turmoil in Libya.Brent crude rose above $116 a barrel as the conflict in Libya continues. Government forces have been cracking down on protesters in Tripoli and there have been clashes at Ras Lanuf, a major oil terminal.Crude thirsty International Consolidated Airlines, the owner of British Airways and Iberia, and the cruise operator Carnival were hurt by oil's rally.Mining heavyweights Rio Tinto, Anglo American and Kazakhmys all finished lower, having done well earlier on.Advertising giant WPP dropped despite making over £1bn for the first time ever in 2010. Barclays Capital sees better value in sector peers with more exposure to the UK.On a brighter note, outsourcing firm Capita Group went well. It has bought Talis Information, a provider of management software and managed services to the academic sector. Fellow outsourcing group Serco was also wanted.Customers have also flocked to online grocery specialist Ocado where gross sales are up by nearly a quarter over the past three months. The firm, which has a long-term delivery deal with John Lewis grocery arm Waitrose, saw sales rise to £146.2m from £117.2m in the 12 weeks to 20 February.International recruitment firm SThree has joined the list of job agencies reporting a continuing general uplift in the staffing market, though the shares fell. Group gross profit, at constant exchange rates was up 19% to around £42m in the three months to 27 February from £35.8m a year earlier.Low cost airline easyJet saw a steep rise in the number of passengers carried in February from a year ago, though the gain was not as sharp as January's. The number of passengers carried on the airline's familiar white and orange planes rose 13.1% to 3.83m in February from 3.39m in February 2010.The sharp rise in the share price of oil explorer and producer Range Resources is as much of a mystery to the company's board as it is to the watchdogs down at the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). Trading at beer pump specialist Brulines has gone flat recently and the second half will come in short of previous expectations.Shares in Sareum were soaring after the cancer drug discovery business announced positive results from a study into colon cancer. The study, which was conducted by the Institute of Cancer Research, founded that Sareum's Chk1 inhibitor, used alongside a gemcitabine, a chemotherapeutic, "demonstrates a greater than two-fold reduction in cancer growth rate compared to treatment with the same dose of gemcitabine without the Chk1 inhibitor."FTSE 100 - RisersSerco Group (SRP) 618.50p +4.56%Pearson (PSON) 1,091.00p +3.51%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,466.00p +3.24%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 290.20p +3.16%Standard Life (SL.) 237.40p +2.86%Capita Group (CPI) 786.50p +2.68%G4S (GFS) 270.00p +2.51%British Land Co (BLND) 585.50p +2.00%Schroders (SDR) 1,796.00p +1.76%Hammerson (HMSO) 473.90p +1.72%FTSE 100 - FallersGKN (GKN) 204.80p -2.98%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 226.80p -2.91%Carnival (CCL) 2,590.00p -2.74%WPP (WPP) 814.50p -2.63%International Power (IPR) 318.70p -2.18%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 566.00p -1.99%ARM Holdings (ARM) 583.50p -1.93%United Utilities Group (UU.) 589.00p -1.75%Whitbread (WTB) 1,679.00p -1.70%Compass Group (CPG) 540.00p -1.64%FTSE 250 - RisersComputacenter (CCC) 432.30p +5.31%Bodycote (BOY) 325.00p +5.11%Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 179.70p +4.54%Forth Ports (FPT) 1,523.00p +4.53%Centamin Egypt Ltd. (CEY) 131.10p +4.05%St James's Place (STJ) 320.90p +3.85%Homeserve (HSV) 470.00p +3.78%Genus (GNS) 952.00p +3.48%Elementis (ELM) 153.60p +3.23%Hays (HAS) 130.00p +3.17%FTSE 250 - FallersTalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 142.90p -3.51%SThree (STHR) 420.00p -2.28%COLT Group SA (COLT) 150.10p -2.21%RPS Group (RPS) 200.60p -2.10%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,801.00p -1.99%International Personal Finance (IPF) 316.70p -1.89%United Business Media Ltd. (UBM) 631.00p -1.79%Inchcape (INCH) 396.40p -1.64%Genesis Emerging Markets Fund Ltd. (GSS) 503.00p -1.37%Perpetual Income & Growth Inv Trust (PLI) 253.50p -1.36%