* Energy, miners down as commodity prices fall
* Life insurers boosted by M&A chatter, banks stronger
* Property companies fall as Credit Suisse downgrades
By David Brett
LONDON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Britain's leading share index
was 0.4 percent weaker in mid-session trade on Tuesday, with
weakness in commodity stocks outweighing gains in financials as
investors booked profit after recent gains.
By 1146 GMT the FTSE 100 <> was 20.91 points lower at
5144.79, after closing 83.50 points higher on Monday at
5,165.70.
However the FTSE was still up 16.3 percent this year, having
soared 49 percent since touching a six-year trough in March.
Energy and mining stocks dragged the index lower as economic
uncertainty weighed on investor sentiment on the demand outlook
for raw materials.
BP <BP.L>, Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L>, BG Group <BG.L>, and
Tullow Oil <TLW.L> dropped 0.1-1.4 percent.
Miners were weighed by weaker metal prices. Rio Tinto
<RIO.L>, Xstrata <XTA.L>, Lonmin <LMI.L>, Anglo American <AAL.L>
and Kazakhmys <KAZ.L> were down 1 percent to 3.2 percent.
"There's a degree of profit taking with many investors
quick to cash in after yesterday's gains, but the underlying
market sentiment remains positive," said Howard Wheeldon,
strategist at BGC Partners. "It leaves us asking the question of
if, not when, the correction is coming."
MIXED DATA
A mixed bag of data also helped keep the FTSE in the red
after figures showed a sharp widening in Britain's current
account deficit and a decline in consumer credit but a surprise
increase in mortgage lending. <ECONGB>
Meanwhile, retail sales rose unexpectedly in September and
stores were optimistic sales would continue to grow in October,
industry data showed. []
Across the Atlantic, stock index futures fell ahead of
September U.S. consumer confidence numbers due later together
with the July Case/Shiller house prices report.
Futures for Dow Jones industrial average <DJc1>, the S&P 500
<SPc1> and the Nasdaq Composite <NDc1> were off 0.1-0.5 percent.
Property stocks were the heaviest losers among British blue
chips, with Hammerson <HMSO.L> and Land Securities <LAND.L>
falling 2.1 and 2.9 percent respectively after Credit Suisse cut
the sector to 'benchmark' from 'overweight'.
Financials were the strongest performers with banks mostly
higher after French bank BNP Paribas <BNPP.PA> joined a recent
European rush to repay government aid from the credit crisis by
launching a 4.3 billion euro ($6.3 billion) capital increase.
Barclays <BARC.L>, Standard Chartered <STAN.L>, Royal Bank
of Scotland <RBS.L> and Lloyds Banking Group <LLOY.L> added
1.2-2.7 percent, but HSBC <HSBA.L> retreated slightly.
Life insurers were in demand, with investors buoyed by
takeover talk.
Legal & General <LGEN.L> climbed 4.6 percent, building on a
5.2 percent rise on Monday, on more bid talk following a weekend
report it has prepared a defence document against a potential
bid from takeover vehicle Resolution <RSL.L>.
The speculation saw Aviva <AV.L>, Standard Life <SL.L>,
Prudential <PRU.L> and Old Mutual <OML.L> add 0.7-2.7 percent.
Friends Provident <FP.L>, also a target for Resolution, dropped
0.2 percent.
Compass <CPG.L> was among the top gainers, up 2.6 percent
after the world's biggest caterer said it expected to increase
full-year earnings per share by 14 percent as new business wins,
cost cuts and a weak British pound helped maintain growth.
[]
(Editing by Dan Lalor)
