* FTSE 100 slips 0.3 percent, BP down on heavy volume
* Wolseley, Man Group results firm
* Data at end of week eyed for return to gains
By Simon Falush
LONDON, March 29 (Reuters) - Weakness from banks and BP
<BP.L>, hit by a downgrade, dragged Britain's top share index
lower on Tuesday though it outperformed European peers, helped
by updates from Man Group <ENG>L> and Wolseley <WOS.L>.
A slightly better than forecast final reading of British
fourth-quarter GDP also capped losses.
By 1047 GMT the FTSE 100 <> was down 18.64 points, or
0.3 percent, at 5,885.85. It closed up 0.1 percent on Monday.
Volumes were thin, with investors reluctant to take sizeable
new bets as the quarter-end approaches.
Shares in oil major BP were the sharpest fallers on the
index after a media report that the company's managers may face
manslaughter charges following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and
an analyst downgrade. []
BP <BP.L> fell 2.2 percent on volumes over twice the market
average and contributed to nearly half the weakness of the
index, though it is still 58 percent higher than a trough
reached in June last year in the wake of the spill.
[]
Investors see potential for further strength, after the
index's best performance since November last week, with a raft
of data in the next few days giving a potential further boost.
"It's a big data week with the (U.S. non-farm) payrolls on
Friday and that could see us get more positive momentum," Steven
Bell, director at the $600 million GLC hedge fund said.
Strengthening the view that corporate profits look set to be
fair, Wolseley <WOS.L>, the world's largest plumbers and
builders merchant, posted a 64 percent rise in half-year trading
profit and reinstated its dividend.
It was the top gainer, up 2.1 percent.
MAN UP
Hedge fund firm Man Group <EMG.L> added 0.5 percent after it
posted adjusted pretax profit of $560 million for the year to
March and said it expects $700 million of net inflows in the
three months to March.
Clothing retailer Next <NXT.L> added 1.9 percent, with
traders citing a bullish note from Morgan Stanley as the
catalyst, in which they say the broker keeps its "overweight"
stance on the firm and raises its target price to 2,800 pence
from 2,470 pence.
The index trimmed losses after data showed Britain's economy
contracted by slightly less in the final three months of 2010
than statisticians had earlier estimated, due to broad-based
upward revisions to a range of sectors. []
Phil Roberts, chief European technical strategist at
Barclays Capital, said the fact it had closed above its 100-day
moving average for two consecutive days provided grounds for
optimism that it could break through resistance.
"There is potential to move if we manage to close above the
two-thirds retracement of the fall from February to March of
5,934 -- the same level the market collapsed from -- we could
move back to 6,052 and the highs for the year around 6,100."
Banks, which drove most of the gains in the previous
session, retreated, with Barclays <BARC.L> down 1.4 percent.
The sector was weighed after Italy's UBI Banca's <UBI.MI>
surprise announcement of a 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion)
capital hike to help repay a government bond. Analysts said
there were concerns others could follow suit.
Across the Atlantic, U.S. March consumer confidence data is
due at 1400 GMT, and the January Case-Shiller house price index
is out at 1300 GMT.
Highlighting investor nerves associated with strife across
the Arab world and the ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan,
defensive tobacco stocks were among the top gainers, with
British American Tobacco <BATS.L> up 1.4 percent.
"The flight to the most defensive sector of them all could
be a sign of impending overall weakness in the equity market,"
Manoj Ladwa, senior trader at ETX Capital, said.
(Editing by Mike Nesbit)
