* FTSE 100 climbs 0.3 pct
* Petrofac lifted by Sharjah contract win
* Prudential dips following JPMorgan downgrade
* BP falls after RBS downgrade
By Tricia Wright
LONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index rose at
midday on Monday, led higher by Petrofac <PFC.L> on the back of
a contract win, while broker downgrades pressured Prudential
<PRU.L> and BP <BP.L>.
By 1107 GMT, the FTSE 100 <> was up 14.54 points or 0.3
percent at 5,672.15. It closed 4.52 points or 0.1 percent lower
on Friday at 5,657.61.
Petrofac was the top blue-chip riser, up 2.6 percent, after
the oil and gas services company won a contract worth $250
million with the Government of Sharjah in the UAE.
The stock was also aided by a price target hike from
Evolution Securities following a Syrian site visit.
Other broker comments were behind a number of individual
equity moves, traders said.
Weir Group <WEIR.L> gained 2.3 percent after UBS upgraded
its price target for the engineering firm to 1,700 pence from
1,400p, while repeating its "buy" rating on the stock.
UBS also raised its target price for sector peer Smiths
Group <SMIN.L> to 1,550p from 1,400p, helping its shares to add
1.2 percent.
Inmarsat <ISA.L> advanced 1.3 percent, recovering after
falls last week when U.S. hedge fund firm Harbinger Capital
Partners halved its stake in the satellite operator.
The stock was also given a lift by an upgrade from Goldman
Sachs to "buy" from "neutral", with the broker hiking its target
price to 940p from 875p.
BROKER DOWNGRADES
On the downside, Prudential shed 2 percent after JPMorgan
Cazenove downgraded the insurer to "underweight" from "neutral",
citing valuation grounds.
And BP <BP.L> slipped 0.9 percent, hurt by a downgrade from
RBS to "hold" from "buy".
RBS said in a note: "For the share price to rise further, a
higher proportion of investors must believe that BP was not
grossly negligent in the Macondo disaster. This outcome is
neither certain nor likely to be imminent."
BHP Billiton <BLT.L> shed 0.4 percent. Rival prospective
bidders may be looking to derail its $39 billion bid for
Canada's Potash Corp <POT.TO>, newspaper reports said, with
China's Sinochem and a major Canadian pension fund among those
working on plans.
U.S. stock index futures <SPc1> <DJc1> <NDc1> pointed to a
slightly higher opening on Wall Street, helped by mounting
expectations of further action from the Federal Reserve to
support the economy.
"From the point of view of the equity market, (quantitative
easing) would mean more stimulus ... and the markets might just
read that as being good news for earnings or good news for
growth," Mike Lenhoff, chief strategist at Brewin Dolphin, said.
Investors were awaiting U.S. corporate earnings, with
figures due among others this week from Intel <INTC.O> on
Tuesday, JPMorgan Chase <JPM.N> on Wednesday, Google <GOOG.O> on
Thursday and General Electric <GE.N> on Friday.
Finance leaders meeting over the weekend in Washington
produced no quick fix for global economic imbalances, suggesting
the cheap money trade of selling dollars to buy emerging market
assets and commodities looks set to continue for now.
(Editing by David Holmes)
