* Oils track stronger crude higher
* Pharmas gain but other defensives weaker
* UK final Q1 GDP contracts at fastest rate in 50 yrs
By Farah Master
LONDON, June 30 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index was
flat in late morning trade on Tuesday as energy stocks got a
lift from higher crude prices, offsetting losses in food
retailers, tobacco and beverage companies.
By 1032 GMT, the FTSE 100 <> index was 0.44 points
lower at 4,293.59 after gaining 1.3 percent in the previous
session.
The blue chip index is up 9.1 percent on the quarter and on
track for its best such performance since the final quarter of
2003. The index has gained 23.8 percent since touching a
six-year low on March 9.
"It's almost as if the summer holidays have started early.
I think it is much of the same sideways movement and there is
not a tremendous amount of activity excluding the mining
sector," said Tim Whitehead, a stockbroker at Redmayne-Bentley.
Rising crude prices to over $72 a barrel helped push oil
majors higher. BG Group <BG.L>, BP <BP.L> Cairn Energy, Royal
Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> gained between 0.4 and 1.4 percent.
The FTSE was little changed after data showed the British
economy contracted at its fastest rate in more than 50 years.
[]
The British economy contracted at a much sharper pace than
initially thought, falling by 2.4 percent in the first quarter,
revised down from a fall of 1.9 percent.
"It's too early to say whether there is going to be any
definitive guidance on the economy till towards the end of the
year and the first quarter of 2010," said Whitehead.
Miners also gained on higher metal prices with Rio Tinto
<RIO.L>, Anglo American <AAL.L> and Xstrata <XTA.L> up between
0.6 and 1.7 percent.
Banks also bucked the weaker trend, finding support at the
end of the quarter helped by recent bullish broker comment.
Barclays <BARC.L>, Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L> and Lloyds
Banking Group <LLOY.L> took on 0.6 to 2.8 percent, although HSBC
<HSBA.L> and Standard Chartered <STAN.L> shed 0.6 and 1.6
percent respectively.
Pharmaceuticals stocks were also a positive for the index
with AstraZeneca <AZN.L>, GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L> and Shire
<SHP.L> up 0.2 to 1.6 percent.
DEFENSIVES SAG
But other defensive stocks weighed on the index, notably
tobaccos and food producers as investors positioned themselves
for the new quarter.
British American Tobacco <BATS.L> and Imperial Tobacco
<IMT.L> lost 1.1 and 0.8 percent. Cadbury <CBRY.L> shed 2.1
percent and Unilever <ULVR.L> fell 2.3 percent.
Life insurers also weighed on the index, retracing some
strong gains made on Monday, with Prudential <PRU.L>, Standard
Life <SL.L>, Old Mutual <OLM.L> and Friends Provident <FP.L>
down 0.1 to 2.7 percent.
Thomas Cook <TCG.L> was the top blue chip riser, up 3.8
percent after news the German government said it would give aid
to its majority German shareholder Arcandor <AROG.DE>.
[]
The British government gave further hints on Monday that
future regulation of the banking sector would be in the hands of
a beefed-up FSA rather than the Bank of England. []
British house prices rose for the second month running in
June, leaving them less than 10 percent down on a year ago, the
Nationwide building society said on Tuesday, in another sign the
market may be stabilising. []
And British consumer morale improved in June to its best in
14 months as people became confident their own finances would
improve for the first time in more than a year, a GfK survey
showed. []
(Reporting by Farah Master; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
