FTSE dips on Wolseley, Smith Group; Unilever up

                                
 * FTSE 100 dips 0.1 percent
                                
 * Unilever rises on U.S. haircare firm purchase
                                
 * Wolseley falls after results
                                
 * Smiths Group down after Merrill downgrades

                                
 By Dominic Lau
                                
 LONDON, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index dipped
by midday on Monday, with Wolseley <WOS.L> down after posting a
flat full-year profit while Unilever <ULVR.L> rose on a U.S.
acquisition.
Unilever climbed 2.3 percent after the consumer goods group
agreed to buy United States-based hair care group Alberto Culver
Co <ACV.N> for $3.7 billion in cash to boost its personal care
business. [ID:nLDE68Q07C]
                                
 Wolseley lost 1.6 percent after the world's largest
plumbing, heating products and building materials supplier
posted flat year profit. It said it plans to move its tax status
to Switzerland in search of tax savings. [ID:nLDE68Q04B]
                                
 British house prices rose at their slowest annual rate in
seven months in September, as prices fell monthly in all regions
for the first time in almost 1-1/2 years, according to a survey
by property data firm Hometrack.
                                
 Banks <.FTNMX8350> were also weaker, down 0.7 percent.
                                
 By 1050 GMT, the FTSE 100 <.FTSE> was down 4.63 points, or
0.1 percent at 5,593.80 after gaining 1.6 percent last week. UK
shares reversed earlier losses and staged a late rally on
Friday, sparked by better-than-expected U.S. macroeconomic data
that helped the index to snap a three-day losing run.
                                
 The index's 50-day moving average crossed above the 200-day
moving average, in what technical analysts called a "golden
cross". It indicates a positive signal for the index.
                                
 "In the short term, it looks like we have got a bullish
bias. But there is still an argument that the whole pace of this
recovery over the last few weeks looks counter-trend," said
Geoff Wilkinson, head of investment research at Mint Securities.
                                
 The FTSE volatility index <.VFTSE> rose 1.3 percent,
indicating higher risk aversion.
                                
 The UK benchmark is up 7 percent this month and is on track
for its biggest monthly rise since July 2009.
                                
 
                                
 OVERBOUGHT TERRITORY
                                
 "We are coming into some pretty overbought levels. You can't
expect the market to continue to rise quite feverishly. We have
a great September," said Jawaid Afsar, trader at Securequity.
                                
 "Notwithstanding the fact that we could face a short-term
correction given the overbought nature of the market, there is
still upside for at least 100 and 150 points left.
In terms of valuations, the UK index looked cheaper than the
U.S. S&P 500 <.SPX> though in line with Germany's DAX <.GDAXI>.
The FTSE 100 carried a 12-month forward price-to-earnings of
10.2 versus S&P 500's 12.24 and DAX's 10.28, Thomson Reuters
Datastream showed.
                                
 Smiths Group <SMIN.L> topped FTSE 100 fallers' list, down 2
percent after BofA Merrill Lynch downgrade the technology firm
to "neutral" from "buy".
                                
 AstraZeneca <AZN.L> lost 0.8 percent after the company's
experimental prostate cancer pill zibotentan failed to improve
survival in a late-stage clincial trial, dealing a fresh blow to
the its oncology pipeline. [ID:nLDE68Q06H]
                                
 Miner Kazakhmys <KAZ.L> advanced 2 percent, boosted by a
price target hike by Goldman Sachs.
 (Editing by Mike Nesbit)