Banks, defensives push FTSE higher

There was little reaction to data showing Britain's dominant services sector expanded for a second month in June but the pace of recovery slowed as new business contracted and firms stepped up the pace of job cuts.

MEDIA UPGRADE

Media stocks were higher, led by Reed Elsevier , up 3.9 percent, after Credit Suisse raised its rating on the European media sector to "overweight" from "underweight," and said the sector has significantly underperformed the market and valuations are now at record lows.

BSkyB was 2.1 percent higher, while WPP was up 1 percent.

Oil majors fell as crude remained depressed after Thursday's jobless figures from U.S. and Europe clouded the economic outlook.

BP , Royal Dutch Shell , BG Group , Cairn Energy and Tullow Oil lost 0.3-1.9 percent.

Miners retracted as traders continued to take profits following a surge in prices earlier in the week on the back of prospective corporate activity, and a fall in raw material prices.

Anglo American , BHP Billiton , Xstrata , Vedanta Resources and Rio Tinto lost 0.5-1.4 percent.

Underwriters to Rio Tinto's rights issue sold the Australian "rump" at A$48.50 each, a 6.3 percent discount to Rio's last traded price, Rio said in a statement on Friday.

Vodafone saw some selling, down 1.6 percent.