Centamin slides on Egypt worries Investors in Centamin had more to worry about than the volatile price of gold, which was weak once again and touched its lowest level in fortnight. Far more dramatic than the fall experienced by the yellow metal was the 7.73 - or 17pc - drop to 37.87p in Centamin shares, after the Egyptian gold producer disclosed unsettling developments in a legal appeal that is critical to its right to dig at Sukari, its only producing mine. A Cairo court issued a ruling last October invalidating Centamin's lease to run the mine, which sent the company's shares tumbling. Today, Centamin revealed that non-binding recommendations made by the Egyptian State Commissioner's Office to the country's Supreme Administrative Court - which will hold its first hearing of the appeal on June 19 - "are not positive," a vague admission that sent traders scrambling to exit. Centamin said it was not in a position to give details of the recommendations "from a legal perspective." Boosted by recent easing from central banks around the world, the FTSE 100 had a strong finish to the week, climbing 32.24 points to 6,624.98, the first time it has closed above 6,600 since October 2007. Indeed, the blue-chips have now risen for seven consecutive days, their longest run of daily gains since July 2011. Encouraging results from BT Group, 33.8 better at 309½p - its best level since November 2007 - also helped lift the index. Shire was also in demand and perked up 85p to £20.19 after the pharmaceutical group won a trial protecting its bowel drug Lialda from generic competition. Analysts at Deutsche Bank said concerns over the medication had "become an overhang" on the shares, while Credit Suisse said the legal development lowered the risk of a generic threat to Lialda until after Shire's patent expiration in June 2020. Meanwhile, Meggitt, the aerospace and defence engineer, climbed 15.9 to 515½p after an upgrade to "buy" from "hold" at Societe Generale. Lower down the scale, the beleaguered oil rig engineer Lamprell intrigued with a jump of 17¾, or 11.9pc, to 166¾p, its highest level since a profit warning knocked the shares last May. One trader suggested that a large seller had been cleared from the stock.