* FTSE up 0.3 percent
* Positive economic sentiment pushes oils, banks higher
* Cable & Wireless Worldwide up on Singtel bid report
By Simon Jessop
LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Britain's leading shares remained
higher around midday on Monday in thin trade, led by Cable &
Wireless Worldwide <CWP.L> on bid talk, with sentiment still
positive after last week's bullish U.S. jobs data.
By 1106 GMT, the FTSE 100 <> was up 16.59 points, or
0.3 percent, at 5,444.74, after breaking through the key 61.8
percent Fibonacci retracement of the April peak to July low,
although volumes were just 15 percent of the 90-day average.
"We've broken through there [] now and
have found some support ... which is helping to spur investors
to build on their positions as well," Joshua Raymond, analyst at
City Index said.
"There's a lack of news out there, which means the good
feeling from Friday's U.S. jobs data," he added, with the U.S.
Labor Day bank holiday keeping volumes light.
Cable & Wireless Worldwide was the standout gainer, rising
as much as 7.6 percent to a seven-week high on a report in the
Independent on Sunday that Singapore's SingTel could launch a
takeover bid for the British telecoms firm. []
"Sometimes there's no smoke without fire but by the same
token corporate balance sheets in general are looking strong, so
that's why we are seeing companies looking around at what they
see as knock-down prices," Richard Hunter, head of UK Equities
at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers said.
U.S. JOBS STILL KEY
Positive sentiment around Friday's stronger-than-expected
U.S. jobs data fuelled Asia overnight and carried over into
London trade, with diminishing double-dip recession fears
boosting sectors such oils and banks. []
Oil and gas producers <.FTNMX0530> led sector gainers,
rising around 0.8 percent, with heavyweight BP <BP.L> up 1.5
percent after a Morgan Stanley note suggested up to 50 percent
upside potential for the stock, following the oil-spill selloff.
A Financial Times report that BP had revived the potential
sale of its Alaskan assets was also supporting the stock.
Economy-sensitive banks <.FTNMX8350> also rose on the
continued positive sentiment, up 0.5 percent, led by a 1.1
percent gain in HSBC <HSBA.L>.
Elsewhere among individual stocks, Home Retail <HOME.L>,
Britain's No.1 household goods retailer, rose almost 2 percent
after Seymour Pierce raised its rating to "hold" from "sell",
ahead of its second-quarter trading statement on Sept. 9.
On the downside, GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L> fell 1.6 percent
after a European safety body said its Avandia diabetes drug
should be pulled from sale over long-standing concerns it raised
risks of a heart attack among users. []
Vying with GlaxoSmithKline at the top of the FTSE fallers
list was Smith & Nephew <SN.L>, Europe's largest maker of
replacement knees and hips, which was down around 1.6 percent
after JP Morgan downgraded its growth forecasts for the firm.
The FTSE 100 is looking cheaper than other major indexes. It
carried a one-year forward price-to-earnings of 9.55 times and a
12-month forward price-to-books of 1.5 times, compared with U.S.
S&P 500's <.SPX> 11.55 and 1.7 respectively, and Germany DAX's
<> 9.87 and 1.26, according to Thomson Reuters Datastream.
(Editing by Karen Foster)
