* Miners down as base metal prices drop
* Banks fall, with HSBC, RBS and Barclays all down
* Aviva down on Citi downgrade; Standard Life up on results
By Martina Fuchs
LONDON, March 12 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 <> was
down 1.4 percent by midday on Thursday, led by heavyweight
commodity stocks and banks, while insurer Aviva <AV.L> slumped
after a Citigroup downgrade.
By 1124 GMT, the FTSE 100 <> was down 49.71 points, or
1.4 percent, at 3,644.10, after slipping 0.6 percent on
Wednesday to snap a three-day winning run.
"It's concerns over the pace of growth in the real economy,
that is the big negative -- the infrastructure spending,
together with possible protectionism, coupled with the slow
course of the economic revival," said Jeremy Batstone-Carr,
analyst at Charles Stanley.
"But investors are still extremely cautious of the outlook
until we see clear signs that economic policy measures achieve
their goals."
Miners took the most points off the index, giving up their
previous two sessions' hefty gains, as copper prices eased. Rio
Tinto <RIO.L>, BHP Billiton <BLT.L>, Xstrata <XTA.L>,
Antofagasta <ANTO.L> and Vedanta Resources <VED.L> were down 4.1
percent to 9 percent.
A price target cut from Citigroup also weighed on BHP.
Banks were also lower, with Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L>,
Lloyds Banking Group <LLOY.L>, HSBC <HSBA.L>, Barclays <BARC.L>
and Standard Chartered <STAN.L> slipping between 2.8 percent and
6.1 percent.
"Financials are still being hit hard. There is no sign of
any revival in the financial sector despite the fact that
quantitative easing in the UK got underway," Batstone-Carr said.
Among life insurers Standard Life <SL.L> bucked the trend
and rose 2.4 percent after it reported a better than expected 6
percent rise in annual profit and said it planned to cut costs
by a further 75 million pounds ($103.8 million) over the next
two years. []
Aviva <AV.L>, however, sank 12.7 percent after Citigroup cut
the insurer to "sell" from "hold" and slashed its price target
on the stock, saying it was one of the riskier names in the
sector.
Oil producers were another standout losing sector, with BP
<BP.L>, Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L>, BG Group <BG.L> and Cairn
Energy <CNE.L> off 0.1 percent to 2.6 percent.
TELECOMS HIGHER
On the positive side, defensive stocks such as food
retailers, pharmaceuticals and telecoms were broadly higher.
"The defensive sectors are doing relatively okay, with
Morrison Supermarkets <MRW.L> results being quite well received
and also Centrica <CNA.L> on positive ground," Batstone-Carr
said.
Morrison Supermarkets, whose shares were up 1.4 percent,
said it had scrapped plans to return 500 million pounds to
shareholders and would take advantage of lower property prices
to open more stores. []
Inmarsat <ISA.L> put on 1.9 percent, after the satellite
communications firm reported solid full-year results with
earnings up 12.5 percent and said it predicted revenue growth in
2009. []
Cable & Wireless <CW.L>, Vodafone <VOD.L> and BT Group
<BT.L> added between 0.7 percent and 1.1 percent.
BT Group said on Wednesday that it would not offer pay rises
to UK staff -- including its most senior executives -- for
2009/10 after it concluded an internal salary review.
(Editing by Greg Mahlich)
