By Rebekah Curtis
LONDON, May 23 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 <> had
dipped 0.5 percent by mid-session on Friday as commodity shares
fell, but banks shook off their previous session's losses as an
investment rating upgrade bolstered Lloyds TSB <LLOY.L>.
Miners knocked 28 points from the UK benchmark index as
copper prices <MCU3=LX> slipped more than 1 percent, with
Eurasian Natural Resources <ENRC.L> the top loser with a 4.5
percent slide.
BHP Billiton <BLT.L> was down 3.4 percent, and Rio Tinto
<RIO.L> shed 4.1 percent after the Wall Street Journal said
BHP's proposed acquisition of Rio faces increasing scrutiny from
European regulators worried about the impact on steel prices
[]. BHP was not immediately available for comment.
By 1038 GMT the FTSE 100 was down 28.8 points at 6,152.8
ahead of a three-day bank holiday weekend for the UK markets.
Shares fell across Europe, while U.S. stock index futures
pointed to a weaker start on Wall Street.
"It's quite clear that we're walking towards the long
weekend now, and there's not a huge amount of action going on,"
said Peter Dixon, an economist at Commerzbank.
Inflation concerns hovered over the market as U.S. crude oil
prices <CLc1> rose above $132 a barrel, but short of the record
$135 mark hit on Thursday.
Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> and its rival BP <BP.L> both
dropped about 1 percent. BG Group <BG.L> lost 1.3 percent.
The macroeconomic agenda includes U.S. home sales due at
1400 GMT.
BANKS RISE
Banks rose broadly, with Lloyds adding 3.5 percent after
Exane BNP upgraded the stock to "neutral" versus "underperform".
Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L> rose 2.3 percent, and
Barclays <BARC.L> put on 1.3 percent.
"It's an unwinding of the negative sentiment which built up
over the first three or four months of the year," Commerzbank's
Dixon said.
"The banks have taken a bit of a pasting in recent months,
(but) the end of the world clearly isn't yet upon us."
He added, however, that banks exposed to the UK market would
"continue to fight some quite nasty headwinds".
Cable & Wireless was another standout gainer, adding more
than 3 percent after UBS and Lehman Brothers both raised their
price targets on the stock. [] []
Sainsbury <SBRY.L> added more than 2 percent after ABN AMRO
raised its rating on the stock to "buy" from "hold". Its rival
Morrison <MRW.L> added 1.4 percent.
But Home Retail Group <HOME.L> lost 1 percent after Credit
Suisse cut its price target on the stock to 265 pence from 305
pence, keeping a neutral rating.
British oilfield services firm Expro International <EXR.L>,
which agreed to a takeover in April, edged up after saying it
had received a higher approach worth 1.7 billion pounds ($3.4
billion) from U.S. rival Halliburton <HAL.N>. []
(Editing by Will Waterman)
