* Miners under pressure as metals prices fall
* Oil majors, drugmakers provide support
* Sept factory gate inflation highest since April
By Harpreet Bhal
LONDON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Britain's top shares were down 0.1
percent around midday on Friday, with falls in mining stocks
just outweighing modest gains in oil majors and drugmakers
during a largely directionless session.
At 1053 GMT, the benchmark FTSE 100 <> was 6.62 points
lower at 5,148.02, in a see-saw session in which it opened
slightly higher before slipping back by mid-morning.
Mining firms were on the backfoot, pressured by falling
metals and gold prices, as a strengthening U.S. dollar made
commodities more expensive for investors. Antofagasta <ANTO.L>,
Eurasian Natural Resources <ENRC.L>, Lonmin <LMI.L> and Xstrata
<XTA.L> lost between 2.1 and 2.9 percent.
The dollar rose after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke
indicated an exit strategy from quantitative easing and low
interest rates as the economy improves. []
"The index has so far traded in a 40 point range, with
traders struggling to find any meaningful direction. Once again
schizophrenic mining stocks are influencing sentiment," said
David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index.
Banks were lower with falls in Lloyds Banking Group <LLOY.L>
and Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L>, down 0.9 and 1.1 percent,
respectively, outpacing gains in HSBC <HSBA.L>, which rose 0.4
percent. Barclays <BARC.L> was flat.
Pressure remained on Lloyds Banking Group and RBS <RBS.L> as
the Financial Times said the British government is to start
examining their loan pricing mechanisms, suspecting that they
are pricing loans to small and medium-sized businesses at levels
which are unaffordable for most smaller institutions.
Mobile telecommunications firm Vodafone <VOD.L> extended
falls from previous sessions, down 1 percent, on concerns over a
price war among Indian mobile telephone firms.
Defence firms BAE Systems <BAES.L> and Cobham <COB.L> fell
2.7 and 0.4 percent, respectively.
OILS CLIMB
On the upside, oil majors were stronger as crude prices
stayed above $71 a barrel. BG Group <BG.L>, Royal Dutch Shell
<RDSa.L> and Cairn Energy <CNE.L> added 0.1 to 1 percent.
The Canadian and Alberta governments have promised C$865
million ($823 million) to help Royal Dutch Shell develop carbon
capture and storage at its oil sands processing plant, as they
seek to meet goals to cut emissions and curb global warming.
[]
Pharmaceuticals extended recent gains with AstraZeneca
<AZN.L> and GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L> adding 0.4 and 0.5 percent,
respectively, while Shire <SHP.L>, which missed out on
Thursday's rally, added 0.1 percent.
Whitbread <WTB> rose 2.2 percent helped by upbeat
third-quarter results from U.S. peer Marriott International
<MAR.N> and a recommendation upgrade by Barclays Capital to
"overweight" from "underweight".
Within the travel and leisure sector, Intercontinental
Hotels <IHG.L>, Carnival <CCL.L> and Compass Group <CPG.L> rose
0.8 to 2 percent.
On the data front, British factory gate inflation
unexpectedly turned positive for the first time in five months,
with non-seasonally adjusted output prices up 0.5 percent in
September, taking the annual rate of inflation to 0.4 percent.
[]
(Editing by Simon Jessop)
