* Miners up on China economic glimmer of hope
* Insurers gain; Old Mutual update reassures
* Oils push higher as crude rises
By Martina Fuchs
LONDON, 4 March (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 <> was
up 2.1 percent by midday on Wednesday, as economic hopes for
China helped pull miners higher, while insurers and banks
recovered from sharp falls in previous sessions.
At 1152 GMT, the FTSE 100 index <> was 72.95 points
higher at 3,585.04, recovering after a 3.1 percent drop on
Tuesday that saw blue chips plumbing six-year lows.
Miners were the biggest gainers in the FTSE 100, as fresh
manufacturing data from China offered a glimmer of hope that the
downturn could be bottoming out. []
"The miners were leading the market up. It's a Chinese story
first and foremost. The last lingering hope for the miners in
the midst of the global recession is that the Chinese economy
manages to keep growing through 2009 and 2010," said Jim
Wood-Smith, analyst at Williams de Broe.
"The hope is that Chinese infrastructure investments will be
increased significantly during the course of the year," he said.
Kazakhmys <KAZ.L> was the top FTSE 100 gainer, up 12.1
percent, while Eurasian <ENRC.L>, Antofagasta <ANTO.L> and Rio
Tinto <RIO.L>, gained between 6 percent and 9 percent.
Xstrata <XTA.L> added 10.8 percent as Goldman Sachs lifted
its price target and kept a "buy" recommendation on the stock.
Insurers also gained ground with Prudential <PRU.L> and
Aviva <AV.L> up between 7.0 percent and 9.0 percent.
"When the market falls, the equities of the life businesses
fall more, and when the market rises, they rise even more,"
Wood-Smith said.
Old Mutual <OML.L> was up 0.8 percent as the South
African-based insurer allayed funding worries with broadly
in-line full-year results.
Old Mutual's chief executive said he believes the company
will have sufficient capital for 2009 as it scrapped its
current-year dividend to preserve cash.
Banks recovered after falling deeply into the red zone
during previous sessions.
Within the sector, Standard Chartered <STAN.L> gained 8.2
percent, following Tuesday's solid full-year results, while
Barclays <BARC.L>, HSBC <HSBA.L>, and Lloyds Banking Group
<LLOY.L> added between 4.2 percent and 9.0 percent.
Heavyweight oil and gas producers added the most weight to
the blue chip index, rallying as the crude price <CLc1> pushed
back above $42 a barrel on the positive news from China.
BP <BP.L>, Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L>, BG Group <BG.L>,
Tullow Oil <TLW.L> and Cairn Energy <CNE.L> rose between 1.9
percent and 3.0 percent.
UK DATA POSITIVE
The headline UK PMI activity index rose to 43.2 in February
from 42.5 in January, better than analysts' expectations of a
fall to 41.8 and above November figures of 40.1. []
British consumer confidence improved in February for the
first time in four months and the rate of job cuts slowed a
fraction, a purchasing managers' survey showed on Wednesday.
Investors focused ahead to the two-day meeting of the Bank
of England Monetary Policy Committee meeting on monetary policy
starting on Wednesday, which will conclude with a rate decision
on Thursday.
AstraZeneca <AZN.L> was the top blue chip faller, down 2.4
percent as defensive issues fell back on the market recovery.
New research also suggesting that blood thinner Plavix
interacts badly with common heartburn drugs is a potential
threat to AstraZeneca's <AZN.L> top-seller Nexium rather than
Sanofi-Aventis' <SASY.PA> Plavix, analysts said. []
Other drug stocks were weak with GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L>
down 0.7 percent, Shire <SHP.L> off 0.1 percent, and medical
products company Smith & Nephew <SN.L> losing 2.3 percent.
"Investors are going to chase stable companies with a
guaranteed dividend which by the day are lessening ... the
market is looking for some positive catalysts coming through,"
said Richard Hunter, analyst at Hargreaves Landsdowne.
(Editing by Andrew Macdonald)
