* FTSE 100 down 1.7 percent
* Banks weighed down by weak house price data
* Energy, miners dragged lower by weaker commodity prices
By Simon Falush
LONDON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Britain's leading share index had
fallen 1.9 percent by midday on Monday as weak housing data and
continuing jitters over the financial sector hit banks, and
energy and mining stocks fell on lower commodity prices.
By 1145 GMT the FTSE 100 <> was down 73.41 points at
4,159.56 after closing down 1.5 percent on Friday.
The gloom surrounding the UK economy deepened further as
data from property Web site Rightmove showed home sellers
cutting asking prices in England and Wales by 2.9 percent in
November. []
Britain will suffer its sharpest economic contraction in
almost two decades next year and the number of people out of
work could rise to nearly 3 million by 2010, the Confederation
of British Industry said. []
"The market is in a general malaise at the moment ... it's
pricing in a lot of bad news but volumes are low and investors
have shut up shop," said Graham Secker, UK equity strategist at
Morgan Stanley.
Banks were the heaviest losers with Lloyds TSB <LLOY.L>
losing 10.9 percent, HBOS <HBOS.L> off 10.4 percent and Standard
Chartered <STAN.L> down 3.7 percent.
"People are reappraising the sector and worried about more
skeletons in the closet. It's a case of shoot first and ask
questions later," said Secker.
Energy stocks fell as the price of oil <CLc1> was hovering
near its lowest in almost two years, weighed down by concerns
about global demand with Japan unexpectedly sinking into
recession in the third quarter.
BP <BP.L> fell 0.2 percent, Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> lost
2.7 percent while Cairn Energy slid 0.7 percent.
Similarly, miners were hit by lower metals prices.
Lonmin <LMI.L>, Xstrata <XTA.L>, Anglo American <AAL.L> and
Eurasian Natural Resources <ENRC.L> fell between 1.4 and 5.4
percent.
Leaders of the world's largest 20 economies meeting in
Washington over the weekend agreed on a host of steps to rescue
the global economy from the financial crisis.
But they left it to individual governments to tailor their
response to their circumstances.
"There were lots of nice words but there was not significant
concrete action that the markets could look to," said Keith
Bowman, equity strategist at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Midcap housebuilders gained, flying in the face of the weak
property data, as takeover speculation boosted the hard-hit
sector.
Taylor Wimpey <TLW.L> added 10.3 percent after an Observer
newspaper report on Sunday said U.S. private equity groups are
thinking about making a full bid or taking a minority stake as
part of a restructuring deal. []
Rival Barratt Developments <BDEV.L> gained 1.2 percent.
Heavily sold interdealer broker ICAP <IAP.L> gained 3.8
percent after the Times reported that chief executive Michael
Spencer will report on Tuesday that interdealer brokers are not
running out of steam.
Midcap rival Tullet Prebon <TLPR.L> gained 6.3 percent after
Citigroup upgraded its rating to "buy" from "sell".
(Editing by Greg Mahlich)
