FTSE ends below 5,500 March 22nd, 2008

The FTSE 100 ended the week below the psychological 5,500 level at 5,495.2, down 50.4 points on Friday, although this was above the early afternoon lows.

Falls in crude and gold prices meant that the oil and mining stocks lead the charge downwards. In the oil sector, Cairn Energy slipped 178p to 2,535p and BP was off 15.5p at 496p. As for the miners, share prices for all the big players fell. Anglo American was down 236p to 2,673p, Vedanta was down 108p to 1,902p, Rio Tinto was down 270p to 4,800p and BHP Billiton ended 80p lower at 1,361p.

On the plus side there was a positive end to the week for Rentokil, whose shareholders have not had anything to cheer about over the last month. News that there are changes in the Boardroom with the Chairman and Chief Exec resigning lifted the shares 17.45% to 85.50.

The FTSE 250 follwed the lead of the FTSE 100 and ended Friday down 102.8 at 9,448.4.