* FTSE 100 falls 0.2 percent
* Unilever sags after gives no specific 2009 outlook
* BG Group up after Q4 beats forecasts
* Bank of England interest rate decision at 1200 GMT
By Kylie MacLellan
LONDON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Britain's leading share index was
down 0.2 percent ahead of the Bank of England's midday decision
on interest rates, led by Unilever <ULVR.L>, which disappointed
investors by scrapping its sales and profit margin targets.
The BoE's Monetary Policy Committee is expected to cut the
bank's base lending rate by 50 basis points to 1 percent in view
of what is already the fastest pace of economic decline in
nearly three decades, but analysts were sceptical it would help.
"The actual change in the base rate is going to do very,
very little because we've had a massive cut over the period of
the last few months and that hasn't changed the direction of the
market at all," said Edward Menashy, economist at Charles
Stanley.
"If we are just looking at today I would reckon that it
would require a minimum of a 1 percent cut if it's to have any
impact at all on the market."
The European Central Bank is expected to leave euro zone
rates unchanged at 2 percent when it announces its verdict at
1245 GMT.
By 1059 GMT the FTSE 100 index <> was down 7.68 points
at 4,220.92, snapping two days of gains.
Unilever <ULVR.L> was the top faller, losing 5.7 percent
after the consumer goods giant posted a 7.3 percent rise in
fourth-quarter underlying sales, at the top of forecasts, but
declined to give a specific outlook for 2009 or reaffirm its
2010 targets.
Other food producers also fell, with Cadbury <CBRY.L> down
0.3 percent and Associated British Foods <ABF.L> losing 1.3
percent.
GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L> slipped 1.9 percent ahead of its
results due later in the day.
"All in all there don't seem to be too many positive stories
... it is a fairly anaemic markdown across the board," said
Richard Hunter, head of UK equities at Hargreaves Lansdown.
"It is general global economic malaise, there is just no
positive catalyst to reverse that trend at the moment."
BANKS MIXED
Banks were mixed with Barclays <BARC.L>, Royal Bank of
Scotland <RBS.L> and Lloyds <LLOY.L> gaining between 3.4 and 5.8
percent, and HSBC <HSBA.L> and Standard Chartered <STAN.L> down
1.1 and 2.3 percent respectively.
The energy sector broadly gained, buoyed by gas producer BG
Group <BG.L> which was the top FTSE 100 gainer, up 6.4 percent
after it reported better than expected results and gave a
buoyant outlook for growth. []
Europe's biggest travel firm, TUI Travel <TT.L> rose 2.6
percent after it said it was on track to meet its full year
expectations, despite the challenging trading environment.
[]
Compass Group <CPG.L>, the world's biggest caterer, added
2.3 percent after it said first-quarter operating profit to the
end of December was "well ahead" of the same period last year,
driven by new business wins and cost efficiencies.
(Editing by Greg Mahlich)
