* Barclays top riser after results beat forecasts
* Commodity stocks up on firmer metals, oil prices
* Wall St futures point to higher open
By Tricia Wright
LONDON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Banks drove Britain's top share
index higher at midday on Tuesday after Barclays <BARC.L> posted
2009 results that beat forecasts, while commodity issues were
also in demand, buoyed by firmer metals and oil prices.
By 1212 GMT, the FTSE 100 <> was 31.66 points, or 0.6
percent higher at 5,199.13, after closing up 0.5 percent on
Monday.
Barclays was the standout blue-chip riser, up 7.4 percent,
after saying it had started the year well when beating
expectations with 2009 profit of over 11.6 billion pounds ($18.2
billion) on the back of a strong performance at its investment
banking unit. []
Solid gains were seen from other British banks, with HSBC
<HSBA.L>, Lloyds Banking Group <LLOY.L> and Standard Chartered
<STAN.L> rising 1.6-4.7 percent.
Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L> rose 4.6 percent. RBS said it
was selling the non-U.S. assets of its RBS Sempra Commodities
joint venture to JPMorgan <JPM.N> for $1.7 billion.
[]
"The Barclays numbers have played a role in driving UK
stocks higher, but generally I think there's a more friendly
tone to the markets at the moment," said Peter Dixon, economist
at Commerzbank.
"Perhaps there is just a feeling out there that the worst is
not going to happen and therefore we can start to stabilise a
bit, but it is not really a particularly strong move so it could
just as easily be turned around if we get more bad news over the
coming days -- on Greece or indeed other sources," he said.
Euro zone states urged Greece on Monday to announce more
deficit-control steps by mid-March if needed, but said nothing
new on last week's pledge to defend the country if debt market
pressures spin out of control. []
Mining stocks were in favour, boosted by higher metals
prices, with Eurasian Natural Resources <ENRC.L>, Vedanta
Resources <VED.L> and Fresnillo <FRES.L> among the best off,
rising 2.2-3.0 percent.
Anglo American <AAL.L> climbed 2.8 percent after selling its
Tarmac construction businesses in France, Germany, Poland and
the Czech republic to Eurovia, a unit of France's Vinci
<SGEF.PA>. []
BHP Billiton <BLT.L> put on 1.8 percent, also helped by an
upgrade to 'buy' from ING, while Rio Tinto <RIO.L> added 1.4
percent, helped by a target price hike from the same broker.
A firmer oil price <CLc1> gave energy stocks a lift. Royal
Dutch Shell <RDSa.L>, BP <BP.L> and BG Group <BG.L> climbed
0.4-0.9 percent. Broker Bernstein also weighed in with an
upgrade to 'outperform' for Royal Dutch Shell.
Positive broker sentiment aided drinks firm Diageo <DGE.L>,
up 0.4 percent after a price target hike to 1,070 pence from 985
pence by ING.
DEFENSIVES OUT OF FAVOUR
But weakness was seen elsewhere among defensive stocks, with
Imperial Tobacco <IMT.L> among the top FTSE 100 fallers,
dropping 1.9 percent, knocked by a downgrade in rating to
'neutral' from 'buy' by Nomura. []
Consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser <RB.L> dropped 1.3
percent, while drugmaker AstraZeneca <AZN.L> fell 0.3 percent.
InterContinental Hotels <IHG.L> was the biggest blue-chip
faller, off 3.3 percent after the world's biggest hotelier said
trading will stay tough until business travellers return in
greater numbers, as 2009 profit fell 34 percent but still beat
forecasts. []
British consumer price inflation rose to 3.5 percent
year-on-year in January, up from 2.9 percent in December to its
highest level since November 2008 and in line with analyst
forecasts. []
Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average <DJc1>, the S&P
500 <SPc1> and the Nasdaq 100 <NDc1> were up 0.3-0.6 percent.
Investors have the February Empire State index and the
latest National Association of Home Builders report this
afternoon to give some clues to the health of the U.S. economy.
(Editing by Dan Lalor)
