* Eases back from 56-week closing high
* Banks mixed ahead of Citigroup and Goldman results
* J Sainsbury up on bid talk
By David Brett
LONDON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index was 0.1
percent lower by mid-session Thursday, weighed on by weaker
commodity stocks as metal prices fell, ahead of results from
U.S. banks Citigroup <C.N> and Goldman Sachs <GS.N>.
At 1044 GMT, the FTSE 100 <> was down 5.56 points at
5,250.54, retreating from a 56-week closing high on Wednesday.
Miners were the top fallers as profit takers moved in as
metal prices retreated.
Rio Tinto <RIO.L>, Xstrata <XTA.L>, Lonmin <LMI.L>, Anglo
American <AAL.L> and Fresnillo <FRES.L> fell 1.1-1.9 percent.
"It's a little bit of a sell-off from the last few days. The
FTSE's had a phenomenal run. All eyes will be on the numbers
coming from the U.S. later," said Mark Priest, senior trader at
ETX Capital.
Anglo American <AAL.L> was the biggest faller, down 3.4
percent, after rival Xstrata <XTA.L> said it would not make a
formal takeover offer. []
Xstrata fell 1.9 percent, with Lonmin <LMI.L>, Eurasian
Natural Resources <ENRC.L>, Fresnillo <FRES.L> and Kazakhmys
<KAZ.L> off 0.7-1.9 percent.
Energy stocks were lower as investors banked profits
following the preious session's gains and as crude <CLc1>
slipped back towards $75 a barrel.
BG Group <BG.L>, Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L>, BP <BP.L> and
Cairn Energy <CNE.L> shed 0.3-2.2 percent.
Tullow Oil <TLW.L>, which said in a drilling update the
Mahogany-4 well had found oil, also retreated, dropping 1.1
percent.
U.S. BANKS EYED
The index rose 2 percent on Wednesday after upbeat quarterly
earnings from U.S. investment bank JPMorgan Chase <JPM.N>, which
followed U.S. chipmaker Intel's <INTC.O> forecast-beating
results on Tuesday.
Bank stocks were mixed ahead of results from Citigroup and
Goldman Sachs, due at 1130 GMT and 1200 GMT respectively.
Heavyweight HSBC <HSBA.L>, Barclays <BARC.L> and Standard
Chartered <STAN.L> lost 0.6-1 percent, while Royal Bank of
Scotland <RBS.L> and Lloyds Banking Group <LLOY.L> added 1
percent and 0.5 percent respectively.
The FTSE 100 has surged more than 51 percent from a six-year
trough in March, but is still 3.3 percent below its level in
mid-September 2008 before the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
British blue-chips underperformed the FTSE Eurofirst 300
<>, which added 0.5 percent on Thursday.
"The miners are fairly dominant in the FTSE as opposed to
other indices, which is probably why the UK index is
underperforming at the moment," said Priest at ETX Capital.
Food retailer J Sainsbury <SBRY.L> comfortably topped the
FTSE risers chart, up 8.6 percent with traders citing talk of a
bid from Qatar. []
The news helped saw peers Tesco <TSCO.L> and Wm Morrison
Supermaket <MRW.L> both rise around 2 percent.
Life Insurers were also in demand after Nomura issued a
bullish note on the sector.
Aviva <AV.L>, Prudential <PRU.L> and Legal & General
<LGEN.L>, which were the broker's top European picks, rose
0.8-1.8 percent, while Friends Provident <FP.L>, Old Mutual
<OML.L> and Standard Life <SL.L> climbed 0.1-0.7 percent.
Among individual movers, Burberry <BRBY.L> hit a 22-month
high, rising 1 percent and extending the previous session's
gains, as JPMorgan raised its target price on the luxury goods
group and lifted its full-year forecasts, following a first-half
trading update on Wednesday. []
