* FTSE 100 down 0.1 percent; Wall Street off lows
* Softer metal prices hit miners
* Oils, banks firmer
* BoE cuts interest rates by 0.5 percentage points
By Jon Hopkins
LONDON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index closed a
fraction lower on Thursday, helped off session lows as Wall
Street pared earlier falls but held back by weak miners and
underwhelmed by an expected 50 basis points interest rate cut by
the Bank of England.
The FTSE 100 index <> was down 2.14 points at 4,505.37
after retreating 2.8 percent on Wednesday after a six-day
post-Christmas rally that added 10 percent to the index.
The BoE's Monetary Policy Committee cut base interest rates
to an all-time low of 1.5 percent on Thursday as the UK central
bank battles to boost an ailing domestic economy.
"Too little too late - but we'll take it," said Felix Riley,
head of binary betting firm ChoiceOdds. "Interest rates are a
blunt and presently impotent weapon. It's political pressure on
the banks to lend that is required as much as anything."
Weakness in mining stocks weighed against the blue chip
index as metal prices fell amid ongoing economic cncerns.
Rio Tinto <RIO.L>, Anglo American <AA.L>, BHP Billiton
<BLT.L> and Vedanta Resources <VED.L> lost between 3.1 and 6.0
percent.
But heavyweight oil issues rallied after falls on Wednesday
as crude prices <CLc1> fell again but held above $41 a barrel,
with BP <BP.L> and Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> up 1.6 and 2.0
percent respectively, but BG Group <BG.L> off O.1 percent.
Oil explorer Tullow Oil <TLW.L> gained 5.3 percent after it
and U.S. explorer Andarko Petroleum <APC.N> made new discoveries
around their Jubile field in Ghana, West Africa.
Banks pushed higher after recent sharp falls on news that
the short-selling ban in financial stocks will end later this
month, with Barclays <BARC.L>, HBOS <HBOS.L>, and Lloyds TSB
Group <LLOY.L> gaining between 1.8 and 4.2 percent.
Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L> added 3.3 percent after the
Times newspaper said it was contemplating the sale of its 4.3
percent stake in Bank of China <3988.HK> as part of a widespread
review of its international assets. []
Asian-oriented banks Standard Chartered <STAN.L> and HSBC
<HSBA.L>, however, lost 6.5 and 0.5 percent respectively.
U.S. blue chips <> pared losses Thursday but still lost
ground after weak December U.S. retail sales and a gloomy
outlook from Wal-Mart <WMT.N>, the world's largest retailer.
Among UK retailers, clothing chain Next <NXT.L> and Marks &
Spencer <MKS.L> fell 1.23 and 3.9 percent respectively on
profit-taking after better than expected trading updates earlier
this week.
But supermarket chain J Sainsbury <SBRY.L> added 1.9 percent
after announcing increased like-for-like sales for the third
quarter and continued growth in customer numbers.
Vodafone <VOD.L>, the world's largest mobile phone group by
revenue, shed 1.3 percent after announcing it had tightened
guidance on a planned seven-year benchmark euro bond after
strong demand.
Mid cap <> recruiters Michael Page International
<MPI.L> and Hays <HAYS.L> lost 0.4 percent and 0.3 percent,
respectively after both companies announced results pointing to
underlying weakness in the UK labour market.
(Editing by David Cowell)
