* Energy stocks biggest laggards as crude slips
* Banks fall, tracking weak U.S. peers
* Pubs boosted by OFT 'beer tie' decision
By Tricia Wright
LONDON, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index shed 1
percent by midday on Thursday, suffering a broad-based sell-off
after disappointing earnings news from the U.S., with energy
stocks the biggest laggards as crude fell.
By 1114 GMT, the FTSE 100 <> was down 51.74 points to
5,206.11, having closed 0.3 percent higher on Wednesday.
"Investors are looking now to start locking in some gains,"
said Jeremy Batstone-Carr, analyst at Charles Stanley.
The FTSE 100 has surged about 50 percent since touching a
six-year trough in March, though is still 4 percent below its
level in mid-September 2008 before the collapse of Lehman
Brothers.
Banks were in the doldrums, following weakness on Wednesday
in their U.S. peers after an influential bank analyst
recommended selling Wells Fargo <WFC.N> shares.
Heavyweight HSBC <HSBA.L> shed 2.2 percent, with Barclays
<BARC.L>, Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L> and Standard Chartered
<STAN.L> falling between 0.6 and 1.8 percent.
Lloyds Banking Group <LLOY.L>, however, put on 0.5 percent
on rumours it is close to securing backing for a cash call, with
the Qatar Investment Authority, which last week sold down its
holding in Barclays, said to be involved according to one
trader.
Lloyds is planning to launch a rights issue and refinancing
next week provided it can persuade regulators and the government
to agree to a deal before the weekend, the Financial Times said
on Wednesday.
"The last time the bank sector had to raise money -- indeed
the last time we went through a swathe of capital raisings --
investors took money out of the more liquid FTSE 100 stocks in
order to take up rights at discounted prices," said
Batstone-Carr.
U.S. futures pointed to a weaker start ahead of the next
round of earnings from companies including American Express
<AXP>, Amazon.com <AMZN.O>, AT&T <T.N>, 3M Co. <MMM.N>,
McDonald's Corp. <MCD.N>, Merck & Co. <MRK.N> and Xerox Corp
<XRX.N>.
Investors on Wednesday were disappointed by a
wider-than-expected loss from Boeing <BA.N>, and after online
auctioneer EBAY <EBAY.O> forecast fourth-quarter results at the
low end of expectations when posting in-line third-quarter
numbers after hours.
MINERS, OILS UNDER PRESSURE
Energy stocks suffered as crude <CLc1> slipped back towards
$80 a barrel as a stronger dollar encouraged investors to take
profits from a 12-month high hit on Wednesday.
BG Group <BG.L>, BP <BP.L> and Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L>
dropped 1.9 to 2.2 percent.
Disappointment that Chinese growth data, though robust,
offered few surprises and a background of softer metals prices
weighed on the mining sector. []
Antofagasta <ANTO.L>, Fresnillo <FRES.L>, Kazakhmys <KAZ.L>
and Randgold Resources <RRS.L> fell 2.3 to 3.2 percent.
Experian <EXPN.L> was among a handful of blue-chip gainers,
up 0.8 percent, after Goldman Sachs upgraded its rating on the
credit checking firm to "buy" and lifted its target.
On the second tier, pub groups notched up good gains, with
Enterprise Inns <ETI.L>, Punch Taverns <PUB.L> and Marstons
<MARS.L> up 2.7 to 17.4 percent after the Office of Fair Trading
gave the go-ahead for the industry to continue operating its
"beer tie" arrangement. []
British retail sales failed to grow for a second month
running in September, official data showed on Thursday,
confounding expectations for a 0.5 percent rise. []
Shares in Next <NXT.L> and Marks & Spencer <MKS.L> fell 0.5
and 1.7 percent, respectively, while mid cap department store
group Debenhams <DEB.L> lost 1 percent although it posted
full-year profits towards the top end of expectations.
[]
(Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
