The loss by Vodafone, the world's second-largest mobile operator, also hurt BT shares, making telecommunications the biggest drag on the main index. Both indexes were still on course for their first weekly losses in 2019 as worries about a slowdown in the global economy and a buoyant pound took a toll. Mining companies were among the blue chips gaining the most, as copper and gold rose. Antofagasta rose 2.5 percent and Fresnillo, Glencore and Anglo American all advanced.
Oil majors were lifted by higher crude prices as turmoil in Venezuela renewed concerns that its exports could be disrupted. Shell, the highest-valued FTSE 100 company, and BP posted modest gains. Brexit headlines still drove moves although nothing significant has transpired since British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit proposed agreement fell through. Sterling rallied to 11-week highs on a media report that Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party has privately decided to back May's Brexit deal next week if it includes a time limit to the Irish backstop. However, the European Union has consistently said it won't put an end date on the backstop.
"It's not immediately apparent we are any further forward. However, markets still appear to be pricing in the prospect that something will be agreed to avoid a no-deal Brexit," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK. Vodafone slid 2 percent, extending Thursday's loss, after it said its key revenue measure deteriorated in the third quarter. The stock is down over 7 percent this year, underperforming the wider index, which is up 1.6 percent.
Smallcaps outperformed with a 0.4 percent gain. Fuller, Smith & Turner surged 21 percent to its highest in more than 2 1/2 years after its agreeing to sell its beer business to a unit of Asahi. The gains put Fuller on course for its biggest one-day advance on record. Shares in AIM-listed Earthport added more than one-fourth in value after US-based Mastercard outbid Visa with a 33 pence per share buyout offer. Shares were last seen 26.3 percent higher at their highest in over three years.