* FTSE 100 down 0.2 percent
* Miners retreat after strong gains, volumes thin
* Banks rise on Portugal bailout request
* ECB interest rate decision due at 1145 GMT
By Tricia Wright
LONDON, April 7 (Reuters) - Weak miners pushed Britain's top
shares lower on Thursday, offsetting gains from banks on relief
Portugal will seek financial help from the European Union.
By 1117 GMT, the FTSE 100 <> was off 13.42 points, or
0.2 percent, at 6,027.71, unaffected by the Bank of England's
decision to keep interest rates at a record-low 0.5 percent,
despite a surge in inflation. []
"There was no surprise that the Bank of England left their
rates unchanged, hence we're seeing no reaction on the FTSE,"
said Yusuf Heusen, senior sales trader at IG Index.
"We've got the European rate decision (at 1145 GMT). It's
going to go up a quarter of a percent I reckon, which is what is
forecast, and is all factored in."
Miners <.FTNMX1770> exerted the most downward pressure on
the index, falling back after a good run over the past two
weeks, with traders saying thin volumes were exaggerating share
price movements.
Vedanta Resources <VED.L> and Cairn Energy <CNE.L> were
among the sharpest FTSE 100 fallers, off 3 percent and 2.1
percent, respectively, after the companies extended the deadline
for a $9.6 billion acquisition of Cairn's Indian assets, a day
after the Indian government deferred a decision on the deal.
[]
"Although clearly a disappointment, and likely to result in
some further weakness, the deal is not yet dead," broker Collins
Stewart said in a note on Cairn Energy.
Banks <.FTNMX8350> rose as Portugal followed Greece and
Ireland in asking for financial aid after months of what many
economists said was a refusal to acknowledge economic reality.
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Graphics on euro zone debt struggle:
http://r.reuters.com/hyb65p
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Peter Dixon, an economist at Commerzbank, shrugged off the
concerns felt by some investors that Spain could be the next to
feel the heat.
"I don't share the views of the pessimists who think that
just because one domino has fallen then another one is
inevitably going to fall as well," he said.
"It may be weighing on the markets at the margin, but I
think ... the situations differ hugely, and we're not looking at
any imminent problems in Spain."
Stock index futures <SPc1> <DJc1> <NDc1> pointed to a flat
to slightly lower opening on Wall Street on Thursday, ahead of
U.S. weekly jobless claims at 1230 GMT.
(Additional reporting by David Brett; Graphics by Scott Barber,
Marc Jones, Sara Ledwith, David Cutler and Vincent Flasseur;
Editing by Will Waterman)
