* Banks rally on soothing noises on Dubai debt
* Energy stocks fall as crude holds off highs
By Tricia Wright
LONDON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index was up
0.4 percent at midday on Wednesday, as a rally by banking issues
offset weakness in energy stocks, with investors eyeing the
government's pre-budget report.
At 1212 GMT, the FTSE 100 index <> was up 12.48 points
at 5,235.61, having closed 87.53 points lower at 5,223.13 on
Tuesday.
Banks added the most points to the index, with analysts
pointing to soothing noises on the Dubai debt situation, though
underlying caution remained ahead of finance minister Alistair
Darling's pre-budget report, due at 1230 GMT.
"There seemed to be some progress made on rescheduling the
... Dubai World debt, and that's one of the reasons that the UK
banks might have come back off the recent lows," said Stephen
Pope, chief global market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald.
Standard Chartered <STAN.L>, which reiterated that its Dubai
losses were unlikely to be material, led the blue chips higher,
putting on 3.6 percent.
HSBC <HSBA.L>, Lloyds Banking Group <LLOY.L> and Royal Bank
of Scotland <RBS.L> added 1.1-1.9 percent.
Among individual movers, industrial property landlord Segro
<SGRO.L> gained 3.1 percent after JP Morgan raised its rating to
'neutral' from 'underweight'.
Reed Elsevier <REL.L> rose 0.5 percent, boosted by an
upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' by Deutsche Bank which also raised
its target price for the Anglo-Dutch publisher to 550 pence from
450 pence. []
Positive broker comment also gave WPP <WPP.L> shares a lift,
up 0.9 percent, with HSBC starting the world's largest
advertising group with an 'overweight' rating.
ENERGY DRAIN
Energy firms were the biggest drag on the FTSE 100 as crude
oil <CLc1> remained well off October highs, at under $74 a
barrel, with BP <BP.L>, Cairn Energy <CNE.L> and BG Group <BG.L>
off 0.7-1.2 percent.
Defensively perceived issues were mixed as investors
retreated to the sidelines.
Pharmaceutical stocks AstraZeneca <AZN.L> and
GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L> lost 0.8 percent and 0.2 percent
respectively, while supermarket chains Tesco <TSCO.L> and Wm
Morrison <MRW.L> extended the previous session's losses, to be
off 1.2 percent and 0.8 percent respectively.
Ex-dividend factors took 0.31 point off the FTSE 100, with
3i Group <III.L>, Land Securities <LAND.L>, and Vedanta
Resources <VED.L> all losing their payout attractions.
On the economics front, Britain's goods trade deficit with
the rest of the world widened in October to its biggest gap
since January as imports rose more than exports despite the
weakness of the pound. []
But British consumer morale held steady in November as a
fall in people's perception of the current situation was offset
by greater confidence about the future, with the Nationwide
Consumer Confidence Index posting a reading of 73, matching
October's upwardly revised figure. []
Prices in Britain's shops rose in annual terms in November
for the first time since July, growing 0.2 percent as food price
rises accelerated and the fall in non-food costs eased, the
British Retail Consortium said. []
(Editing by Dan Lalor)
