Markets: The week that was 10-14/12/12

The FTSE 100 began the week eking out minor gains, but shares eased down after the US Federal Reserve delivered a further round of quantitative easing.

The FTSE 100 began the week eking out minor gains in the build-up to a Federal Reserve announcement on Wednesday. But it was a case of "buy on the rumour and sell on the news", with shares easing down after the US central bank delivered a further round of quantitative easing.

The FTSE 100 (UKX) started the week at 5914.40.

London's blue-chip bourse, after spending the majority of Monday's session down, rallied to push onto positive ground after US markets opened up.

The index had started the week with a dip into the red, as investors' focus shifted back from across the Atlantic and towards the eurozone crisis.

Italy's political wranglings, with Mario Monti signalling his intention to step down as Prime Minister and Silvio Berlusconi once again entering the fray, unnerved the markets.

Smith and Nephew (SN.) came out on top after moving up just shy of 2%. Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) had a harder time of it, losing 2.7%.

Over on AIM, Mobile Streams (MOS) led the table with a 31% gain, while Supercart (SC.) fell a painful 64%.

Japan may be in recession, revised growth figures released on Monday indicated. The world's third-largest economy shrank by 0.9% in the three months to 30 September, while the previous quarter's figure was revised down from 0.1% growth to a 0.03% contraction.

New World Oil and Gas (NEW) said its chances of discovering commercial oil at its Belize project had "materially increased". An extension to an existing well at the B Crest prospect confirmed the presence of a working hydrocarbon system of 45% to 65% oil saturation.

Investors welcomed the news, as shares in the explorer climbed 4% and the stock became one of the most heavily bought on Interactive Investor.

Monday's close:

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