UK stocks : FTSE 100 closes down 0.1 pct
0.2 percent by London's close, awaiting more news on talks to close the budget gap.
On Thursday, the leading Republican politician, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, said there had been no substantive progress in talks with the White House, dampening hopes for an early deal less than 24 hours after he had said he was "optimistic" about reaching a pact.
"November has been a funny old month. It had volatility, that sharp move to the downside after the U.S. election. But there are clearly signs for investors that politicians are working hard on the U.S. cliff, and hopefully they will try and prevent any hard landings in the U.S. economy," Angus Campbell, market strategist at Capital Spreads said.
Banks led the advance by UK blue chips after recovering from early falls, with Barclays rallying 0.6 percent higher, supported by a target price hike from UBS.
The broker stayed "neutral" on the sector, however, saying that while tail risk is reducing around the UK banks, with capital positions robust, the recent performance by their stocks leaves upside modest.
Royal Bank of Scotland missed out on the sector gains, with the part-state-owned lender shedding 1.3 percent as the Daily Telegraph reported that it could be forced to explore the sale of core businesses after the Bank of England increased the pressure on lenders to raise new capital.
Separately, the bank said the sale of its Indian retail and commercial banking operations would not proceed.
Among other blue-chip fallers, Kingfisher extended its declines after disappointing Q3 results
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