FTSE falls as oils drag, offset Vodafone gains

                                
 * FTSE 100 falls 0.3 pct by mid-session
                                
 * Mixed corporate news as BP losses offset Vodafone gains
                                
 * Stimulus from Asia, Japan eases worries; U.S. plan eyed
                                
 By Kylie MacLellan
                                
 LONDON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - A jump in Vodafone shares <VOD.L>
following forecast-beating revenues was not enough to offset a
dragging energy sector, hit by weak results from BP <BP.L>, and
Britain's top index dipped slightly by mid-session on Tuesday.
                                
 By 1136 GMT the FTSE 100 <.FTSE> was down 14.53 points at
4,063.25, putting it on track for a fourth straight day of
losses after a 1.7 percent fall in the previous session.
                                
 Results from heavily-weighted BP and Vodafone provided mixed
signals for investors at a time when the market is braced for
bad news.
                                
 "We've got two big companies reporting today, two companies
which add or take away a lot of index points," said Rob
Griffiths, strategist at Cazenove.
                                
 Oils took the most points off the index, led by BP, which
fell 3.4 percent after it said replacement cost net profit fell
24 percent in the fourth quarter, undershooting forecasts.
[ID:nL2123295]
                                
 Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> was down 2 percent, Tullow Oil
<TLW.L> slid 3.2 percent and Cairn Energy <CNE.L> lost 2.8
percent.  
                                
 Vodafone jumped 6.9 percent after increasing its guidance to
reflect foreign exchange movements and said it was making good
progress with its cost-savings programme. [ID:nL2694002]
                                
 "When you get a move in a stock like BP it really does weigh
down on the whole index," said Griffiths. "Vodafone, fair enough
it's good news but it's only one stock, and it doesn't really
have a sector to pull up with it, whereas the oil sector is
being dragged down."
                                
 The index, which tumbled over 31 percent last year, is down
a further 8.2 percent so far this year.
                                
 "It has certainly been a difficult January following on from
a very difficult 2008 and for the time being the near term still
looks very uncertain," said Keith Bowman, equity strategist at
Hargreaves Lansdown.
                                
 
                                
 U.S. STIMULUS EYED
                                
 Australia slashed rates and unveiled a $26 billion stimulus
and the Bank of Japan said it would buy up to $11 billion of
shares held by banks.
                                
 This lifted Asian stocks but analysts said sentiment remains
shaky and a close focus will remain on whether the $900 billion
U.S. economic stimulus package will pass through the Senate.
                                
 The FTSE shrugged off data on Tuesday which showed Britain's
construction sector continued to contract in January, but at a
slower pace than at the end of 2008 and firms were their most
confident about the outlook in seven months.
                                
 The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply/Markit
construction PMI index rose to 34.5 in January from 29.3 in
December. That was the highest reading in three months.
[nLAK000338]
                                
 "Anything below 50 is still contraction so to be at 30
(shows it) is still contracting quite aggressively. Anything
there is pretty much fully priced in so I don't think that's
really weighing on things too much," said Cazenove's Griffiths.
                                
 Struggling banks were mixed with Royal Bank of Scotland
<RBS.L> gaining 2 percent after chairman Tom McKillop said he
would step down on Tuesday, three months earlier than expected
to allow his replacement to oversee the British bank's
restructuring. [nL3721505]
                                
 Standard Chartered <STAN.L> fell 0.8 percent while Barclays
<BARC.L>, whose share price has been extremely volatile in
recent weeks, shed 3.3 percent.
                                
 Miners were also mixed, with Kazakhmys <KAZ.L> and Xstrata
<XTA.L> the star performers, adding 4.6 and 3.3 percent
respectively after Goldman Sachs named the two firms the most
attractive stocks in its European metals and mining sector
coverage.
                                
 For an ANALYSIS on how the weakness of sterling will support
the FTSE 100, please click on [ID:nL265285]

 (Editing by David Cowell)