FTSE edges up by midday as banks offset weak miners

                                
 By Dominic Lau
                                
 LONDON, April 25 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index edged
up by midday on Friday as optimism that banks had seen the worst
of credit market-linked writedowns lifted the sector, though
miners tracked lower metal prices.
                                
 By 1030 GMT, the FTSE 100 <.FTSE> was up 13.9 points, or 0.2
percent at 6,064.6, underperforming Frankfurt's DAX <.GDAXI> and
Paris' CAC-40 <.FCHI> because of weakness in heavyweight miners.
                                
 "The strengthening in the dollar has impacted on the oil
price, which should be broadly good for companies," said Keith
Bowman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
                                
 Oil dipped below $116 a barrel as a stronger dollar offset
concerns over supply disruptions in Nigeria and the North Sea.
                                
 Beaten-down banks were the standout gainers, with HBOS
<HBOS.L>, HSBC <HSBA.L>, Barclays <BARC.L>, Royal Bank of
Scotland <RBS.L> and Lloyds TSB <LLOY.L> up between 0.8 and 2.4
percent.
                                
 UBS said in a report that it had upgraded the global banking
sector to "neutral", citing improvements in credit markets,
increased government intervention, a near-end to
marked-to-market writedowns and fundraising by banks.
                                
 Also in the financial sector, ICAP <IAP.L> and London Stock
Exchange <LSE.L> put on more than 4 percent.
                                
 GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L> advanced 1.7 percent after European
drug regulators recommended approval of Glaxo's new breast
cancer pill Tykerb, or Tyverb, but with additional warnings
about potential liver toxicity, late on Thursday.
[ID:nL24724496]
                                
 WPP Group <WPP.L>, however, topped the losers' list on the
FTSE 100, down 7.5 percent after the world's second-largest
advertising firm reported first-quarter like-for-like revenue
growth towards the low end of forecasts.
                                
 Also in the media sector, ITV <ITV.L> fell 3.2 percent after
Morgan Stanley cut its price target with an "underweight" rating
over concerns that the UK display advertising environment had
suddenly deteriorated.
                                
 Heavyweight miners were also down, as traders cited falling
metal prices and profit-taking after recent advances in the
sector.
                                
 Antofagasta <ANTO.L> shed 3.5 percent, Kazakhmys <KAZ.L>
dropped 2.7 percent, Eurasian Natural Resources <ENRC.L> lost 4
percent and Anglo American <AAL.L> slipped 2.5 percent.
                                
 Shares in Carphone Warehouse <CPW.L> rose 4.2 percent,
making them among the top gainers, after Morgan Stanley lifted
its rating on the stock to "overweight" from "equal weight".
                                
 Traders also said persistent bid speculation was also
boosting the shares. Carphone declined to comment.
                                
 Bus and train operator FirstGroup <FGP.L> added 4.1 percent
after peer Go-Ahead Group <GOG.L> said trading for the third
quarter of its financial year was strong and it expected to
deliver a full-year performance in line with its expectations.
                                
 Go-Ahead jumped nearly 14 percent.
 (Additional reporting by Michael Taylor)