UK investors once again bailed out of equities and sought the safety of bonds as doubts persisted about the future of the European common currency and the parlous debt positions of many European countries.

Friday's slide capped the fourth week in a row that the FTSE 100 has ended the week lower than it started it, a losing streak not seen since February/March of last year.

Inter-dealer broker ICAP was the market's whipping boy, after a lacklustre trading update. It said third quarter revenue was 'slightly' higher than the year before, but a rebound in overall activity levels at the start of 2010 has been a little weaker than last year. The shares lost almost a fifth of their value. Sector peer Tullett Prebon lost a tenth of its value as it took collateral damage.

Oil and gas firm BG was another big faller after it announced fourth quarter revenues and profits were hit by lower gas prices. Total operating profit fell by 3% from the same period a year ago to £1.1bn. BG said average realised gas prices fell by 39% from the same quarter the previous year.

In the context of the market shake-out, the performance of Compass was all the more remarkable, after the contract caterer reported a good start to the year, with the decline in organic growth slowing and a 'strong' new business pipeline. Organic revenue improved from a decline of approximately 3% in the fourth quarter of 2009, to a decline of 1.7% in the first quarter of this year, Compass said, with all four of its geographic regions ahead quarter on quarter.

Also on the up were water companies United Utilities and Severn Trent, after Exane BNP Paribas started coverage of the pair with an 'outperform' rating for UU and a neutral rating on Severn Trent.

Shopping centre group Liberty was also wanted after it confirmed plans to demerge its London focused business,

British Airways performed relatively well after it surprisingly posted an operating profit of £25m, its first quarterly profit for ages. It is still on course for record losses this year and faces widespread industrial action.

Weapons giant BAE Systems has paid $400m (£255m) to the US Department of Justice and £30m to the UK Serious Fraud Office to settle investigations into bribery allegations in Tanzania and over the Saudia Arabian al-Yamamah deal signed 20 years ago.

Electrical components distributor Electrocomponents provided some cheer after it predicted profits this year will be at the upper end of market expectations after sales picked up strongly from December.

Outdoor clothing and equipment retailer Blacks Leisure confirmed today that it will raise funds through a placing and open offer to finance expansion. It will seek to raise about £20.28m through a placing and open offer of 20,370,371 new ordinary shares and a firm placing of 20,370,371 shares at 54p a share, a discount of 4.4% from the closing price yesterday.

Diners continued to flock to Italian restaurant chain Carluccio's in the 17 weeks to January 24 despite the wintery weather and the company's refusal to slash prices, it said today.

Housebuilder Bellway was upbeat after completing the sale of 12% more homes in the first half than it did a year ago and maintaining margins at 6%. The whole housing sector was under the cosh, with Bellway - down 3.62% - one of the better performers.

FTSE 100 - Risers
Compass Group (CPG) 450.00p +5.19%
BAE Systems (BA.) 345.90p +1.59%
Liberty International (LII) 456.70p +0.97%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,498.00p +0.67%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,207.00p +0.67%
Bunzl (BNZL) 625.00p +0.32%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 526.50p +0.19%
Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 885.50p +0.06%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
ICAP (IAP) 294.00p -19.47%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 48.31p -5.73%
Xstrata (XTA) 950.00p -5.19%
Invensys (ISYS) 296.00p -5.13%
3i Group (III) 258.10p -4.34%
Aviva (AV.) 365.10p -4.17%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,319.00p -3.98%
Schroders (SDR) 1,123.00p -3.61%
Man Group (EMG) 217.00p -3.60%
Schroders NV (SDRC) 929.50p -3.58%

Related share prices
BAE Systems (BA.) share price
British Airways (BAY) share price
BG Group (BG.) share price
BHP Billiton (BLT) share price
Compass Group (CPG) share price
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) share price
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) share price
Rio Tinto (RIO) share price
Severn Trent (SVT) share price
United Utilities Group (UU.) share price
Vodafone Group (VOD) share price
Bellway (BWY) share price
Electrocomponents (ECM) share price
ICAP (IAP) share price
Tullett Prebon (TLPR) share price