* Miners, oils up as commodity prices rally
* Banks higher; RBS, Lloyds results due this week
* Pharmas weak; defensive attractions fade
By Jon Hopkins
LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Britain's leading shares were 0.1
percent higher at midday on Monday, extending recent gains in to
a sixth straight session helped by strength in heavyweight
miners, oils and banks, offsetting weakness in defensive issues.
By 1140 GMT, the FTSE 100 <> index was 5.35 points
higher at 5,363.52, having closed up 0.6 percent on Friday, its
highest closing level in a month, and posting its best weekly
performance since July.
"We have seen the defensives lag with both the tobacco and
pharma sectors lower, which indicates that whilst investors are
not doing too much today, they are not running scared either,"
said Joshua Raymond, market strategist at City Index.
"There has not been enough news out there to wet the
appetites and get stocks moving so investors may simply be
waiting in the wings," Raymond said.
Banks saw the most support as investors looked ahead to
full-year results from part-nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland
<RBS.L> and Lloyds Banking Group <LLOY.L> later this week, and
worries over the sector's exposure to Greek debt problems faded.
RBS and Lloyds added 1.8 and 2.0 percent, respectively.
Barclays <BARC.L>, which posted better than expected
earnings last week, gained 1.8 percent, while HSBC <HSBA.L> took
on 0.1 percent and Standard Chartered <STAN.L> firmed 0.9
percent.
Britain's opposition Conservatives announced plans on Sunday
to encourage taxpayers to buy shares in banks that were
part-nationalised during the credit crunch, presenting this as a
"people's bank bonus". []
The plans, however, were dismissed by Business Secretary
Peter Mandelson as a "silly little gimmick", the Financial Times
reported.
Separately, Mandelson said on Sunday that Britain's
loss-making, bailed-out banks should be restrained as they
decide on bonuses for top executives ahead of reporting their
annual results this week. []
Miners were also in demand as the gold price moved higher,
benefitting from a slip back in the dollar. Vedanta Resources
<VED.L>, Kazakhmys <KAZ.L>, Eurasian Natural Resources <ENRC.L>,
and Antofagasta <ANTO.L> gained 1.7 to 2.7 percent.
Rio Tinto <RIO.L> added 2.0 percent. The global miner said
it had started iron ore production at a $901 million mine in the
Robe Valley in Australia's Pilbara region. []
Xstrata <XTA.L> gained 1.2 percent. Glencore, the Swiss
commodities trader, is sounding out potential partners as it
prepares to buy back the $2.5 billion Prodeco coalmine owned by
Xstrata <XTA.L>, The Times said on Monday.
Energy issues were higher as crude prices <CLc1> hovered
around $80 a barrel, having hit a six-week high earlier on
Monday. BP <BP.L>, Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L>, BG Group <BG.L>,
Tullow Oil <TLW.L and Cairn Energy added 0.3 to 0.7 percent.
Among individual blue chip gainers, packaging firm Bunzl
<BNZL.L> topped the FTSE 100 leaders board, up 3.4 percent after
it posted forecast-busting full-year results, which prompted
Panmure Gordon to up its rating to "buy". []
DRUGS WEAK
GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L> was the top FTSE 100 faller, down
2.1 percent. Two U.S. drug safety reviewers have recommended
that Glaxo's diabetes drug Avandia be pulled from the market
after concluding it is more dangerous to the heart than a rival
medicine. []
Peer Shire <SHP.L> shed 1.8 percent, giving back some of
Friday's post-results advance as Panmure Gordon cut its rating
to "sell" from "hold", while AstraZeneca <AZN.L> fell 0.2
percent as the defensive attractions of the sector waned.
Among other weak defensively-perceived issues, British
American Tobacco <BATS.L> shed 1.1 percent, drinks group Diageo
<DGE.L> lost 1.0 percent and food retailer Tesco <TSCO.L> fell
0.8 percent.
General retailers were also weak, with Marks & Spencer
<MKS.L> off 1.8 percent as Bernstein Research cut its target
price, while Next <NXT.L>, Kingfisher <KGF.L> and Home Retail
Group <HOME.L> fell 0.3 to 1.4 percent.
(Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
