* Financials up; Barclays confirms i-Shares sale plan
* Insurers continue recent recovery
* Property companies gain after Brixton results
By Brian Gorman
LONDON, March 16 (Reuters) - Stronger financial and
pharmaceuticals shares helped Britain's top share index to rise
2.2 percent by midday on Monday, and put it on course for its
sixth gain in seven sessions.
At 1159 GMT, the FTSE 100 <> was up 85.01 points at
3,838.69. The index rose 6.3 percent last week, after hitting
six-year lows, but is still down more than 13 percent in 2009,
hurt by the recession and the banking crisis.
Barclays <BARC.L> surged 21 percent, leading banks sharply
higher after confirming that it is looking to sell its i-Shares
business and has talked to several interested parties.
The bank is seeking to strengthen its balance sheet and could
realise up to 5 billion pounds ($7.02 billion) from the deal,
according to weekend press reports. []
"Investors have been looking hard for any positive
catalyst," said Richard Hunter, head of UK equities at
Hargreaves Landsdown, in London.
"Good news from the big U.S. banks last week has been
consolidated by Barclays today. That sector is centre stage.
That's not to say some concerns don't abound, such as credit
losses increasing in the traditional areas."
Index heavyweight HSBC <HSBA.L> rose 3.6 percent after the
group confirmed that it had reassured investors in Hong Kong
that it does not need to raise further capital. The shares have
suffered in recent weeks after the company said on March 2 it
was raising 12.5 billion pounds in a rights issue.
Lloyds Banking <LLOY.L> and Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L>
were up 1.9 and 2.8 percent respectively.
Insurers continued their recent recovery. Aviva <AV.L>,
Legal & General <LGEN.L> and Prudential <PRU.L> were up between
3.9 and 9.1 percent.
Drugmakers were also in strongly positive territory.
AstraZeneca <AZN.L> and GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L> were up 4.5 and
3.7 percent respectively.
OILS RESILIENT
Oil prices <CLc1> dropped more than 4 percent to $44 a
barrel, after OPEC kept output quotas unchanged following a
weekend meeting in Vienna.
But energy stocks were relatively resilient, with BP <BP.L>
up 0.1 percent and BG Group <BG.L> up 0.8 percent.
Rio Tinto fell 2 percent after reports of further
shareholder opposition to the firm's $19.5 billion deal with
Chinese state-owned firm Chinalco and delays in approval by
Australian regulators. []
But Anglo American <AAL.L>, BHP Billiton <BLT.L>, and
Vedanta Resources <VED.L> were up between 2.5 and 4 percent.
In the FTSE 250, industrial property landlord Brixton
<BXTN.L> soared 20 percent even after its full-year net asset
value fell 47 percent. Citigroup said the company had more value
than the current share price implied, though it retained its
"hold" rating.
This boosted others in the property sector, including blue
chip Land Securities <LAND.L>, up 7 percent.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S.
economy should start recovering from recession next year if
there is political will to complete the costly rescue of the
shattered banking system.
Wall Street looked set to extend last week's gains, with
futures pointing to a higher start.
However, reinforcing the current bleak macroeconomic
backdrop, property website Rightmove said asking prices for
houses in England and Wales were 9 percent lower than a year ago
this month, though this was slightly less than February's record
9.1 percent annual drop.
(Editing by Rupert Winchester)
(brian.gorman@thomsonreuters.com; +44 20 7542 9128; Reuters
Messaging: brian.gorman.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
($1=.7124 Pound)
