* FTSE falls 2.3 pct
* Miners, oils weak as commodity prices slide
* Vodafone jumps on relief after Q3 numbers
* UK retail sales, house prices fall
By Jon Hopkins
LONDON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Britain's leading share index was 2.3 percent
lower by midday on Tuesday as economic worries returned to the fore to hurt
global markets, knocking miners, oils and banks.
By 1200 GMT, the FTSE 100 index <> was 102.36 points lower at 4,301.56
after gaining 38.96 points, or 0.8 percent, on Monday.
"Overall trading is aimless," said Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at BGC
Partners, "with nothing really to get your teeth into".
"It's just a bit of everything today, notably weakness in miners and banks,"
Wheeldon added.
Miners fell sharply, reflecting lower metals prices amid further evidence of
a weakening Chinese economy, with Lonmin <LMI.L> down 9.3 percent and Vedanta
Resources <VED.L> falling 7.0 percent.
Heavyweight oil companies were also a drag on the blue-chip index as crude
prices <CLc1> fell $2.50 to below $60 a barrel.
BG Group <BG.L> lost 7.1 percent, Tullow Oil <TLW.L> dropped 7.4 percent, BP
<BP.L> shed 2.5 percent and Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> was off 2 percent.
Banks were big blue-chip losers as well, with HSBC <HSBA.L> shedding another
6.1 percent following Monday's big U.S. loan writedowns which accompanied the
global bank's third quarter results.
Standard Chartered <STAN.L> lost 5.3 percent as investors worried that the
Asian-oriented bank might need to raise capital.
Lloyds TSB <LLOY.L> also stood out, down 8.0 percent, as the HBOS <HBOS.L>
takeover saga dragged on, with uncertainties about whether any counter proposals
could be made to the agreed deal. HBOS shares shed 5.3 percent.
British prime minister Gordon Brown said during a press conference Tuesday
that no other serious bid for HBOS has come forward [].
VODAFONE RINGS UP GAINS
Vodafone shares gained 9.3 percent to top the FTSE 100 leader board after
reporting first-half results slightly ahead of expectations.
The mobile phones group cut its full-year revenue outlook and will reduce
costs by 1 billion pounds, but increased its forecast for free cash flow.
Ben Timms of Blue Index, however, highlighted a closing of short positions
in Vodafone rather than any buying expectations.
Intercontinental Hotels dropped 5.2 percent after the world's largest
hotelier beat forecasts with a 14 percent rise in third-quarter profit but
warned it saw a sharp deterioration in market conditions in October.
Cookson Group <CKSN.L> was the top FTSE 250 <> faller, down 14 percent
after the industrial materials group said its 2008 performance would fall short
of management expectations.
Housebuilders were weak after two reports illustrated the parlous state of
the UK housing market, and after a gloomy trading update from Taylor Wimpey
<TW.L>, down 13.1 percent.
British house prices fell 5.1 percent on a year ago in September, according
to the Department for Communities and Local Government. []
A survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors showed British
house prices fell slightly less sharply in the three months to October than in
the three months to September, but home sales hit the lowest level in at least
30 years. []
And in other glum economic news, British retail sales fell for a fifth
straight month in October on a like-for-like basis and by the biggest amount in
more than three years the latest survey from the British Retail Consortium
showed.
[]
(Editing by Sharon Lindores)
