* FTSE 100 down 0.5 percent
* Commodity stocks retreat on dollar strength
* Cable & Wireless up, Intertek down after results
By David Brett
LONDON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index was 0.5
percent lower in mid-session trade on Tuesday as investors
paused for breath after a four-day winning streak, with falls in
banks and miners offsetting gains in some defensive issues.
By 1212 GMT the FTSE 100 <> index was 27.40 points
lower at 5,355.27, after the index hit a 14-month closing high
the previous session.
The blue chip index is up 20.7 percent this year and has
surged 55 percent from a six-year low hit in March.
"We are in a trading range between 5,200 and 5,375 and we're
going to give very little ground away in the next 6 weeks. We
will probably be volatile, responding to economic and corporate
news on a daily basis," said David Buik, senior partner at BGC
Partners.
Miners were under pressure from lower metal prices as the
U.S. dollar rebounded on Tuesday from Monday's 15-month lows
after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made rare comments
about the value of the currency. []
Rio Tinto <RIO.L>, Xstrata <XTA.L>, Lonmin <LMI.L>, Anglo
American <AAL.L>, Kazakhmys <KAZ.L> and Fresnillo <FRES.L> fell
0.6-2.9 percent.
"Any major correction will be foreign-exchange driven. If
the dollar were for technical reasons to rally then we could see
a five or seven percent pull-back for equities over the period
of a week," Buik added.
Banks were also weaker as investor appetite for risk
diminished slightly and prominent U.S. analyst Meredith Whitney
made bearish comments about the sector.
Barclays <BARC.L>, HSBC <HSBA.L> and Standard Chartered
<STAN.L> fell 1.4-2.2 percent.
Among individual issues, Intertek <ITRK.L> slid 3.3 percent
after Seymour Pierce cut its rating to "outperform" from "buy"
after the equipment testing firm posted revenue growth of 28
percent for the 10 months to October 31.
DEFENSIVES IN DEMAND
As risk appetite waned, defensive stocks found some support.
Food producer Unilever <ULVR.L> gained 1.1 percent, while
supermarkets were also high on traders' wanted lists with Wm
Morrison Supermarkets <MRW.L>, Tesco <TSCO.L> and Sainsbury
<SBRY.L> rising 0.6 to 1.5 percent.
Centrica <CNA.L> added 1.5 percent as British gas prices
recovered further following a decline last week, helped by a
forecast showing weather may be less mild over coming weeks than
previously expected.
Severn Trent <SVT.L>, United Utilities <UU.L> and National
Grid <NG.L> also gained, rising 0.4 to 1.3 percent.
ICAP <IAP.L>, the world's biggest interdealer broker, rose
3.8 percent after reporting first-half results, with Numis
upgrading the stock to "hold" from "reduce" as revenues beat its
expectations, while profit fell just short of forecasts.
Cable & Wireless <CW.L> was up 2.7 percent after the
telecoms group said it planned to raise around 200 million
pounds via the bond market as part of a refinancing to push
through a demerger by April next year. []
On the economic front, Britain's inflation rate accelerated
in October as expected, after a sharp fall in transport costs
last year was not repeated, official data showed.
[]
At 1330 GMT U.S. figures on producer price inflation and
industrial production will be a focus for investors.
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a slightly lower opening
on Wall Street on Tuesday; the S&P 500 <SPc1>, Dow Jones <DJc1>
and Nasdaq 100 <NDc1> futures were down 0.1-0.2 percent.
(editing by John Stonestreet)
