* FTSE down as investors bank profits on Tuesday's surge
* Energy stocks fall as oil price stagnates
* Investors await start of U.S. Q3 earnings season
By David Brett
LONDON, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index eased in
mid-session trade on Wednesday, with weakness in energy and food
retailers offsetting some strength in miners and banks, as
investors await the start of the third-quarter corporate results
season in the United States.
By 1104 GMT the FTSE 100 was down 19.88 points, or 0.4
percent at 5181.09, having closed 2.3 percent higher on Tuesday
on growing confidence over the outlook for the global economy.
Energy stocks took the most points off the index, as profit
takers cashed in on some of Tuesday's gains, with oil prices
refusing to break higher ground.
"Oils have set themselves up nicely for a bout of
profit-taking because the underlying commodity hasn't been
making too much progress (since hitting highs in August)," said
Stephen Pope, chief global market strategist at Cantor
Fitzgerald.
BP <BP.L>, BG Group <BG.L> and Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L>
fell 0.8 to 1.9 percent.
Food retailers dipped as J Sainsbury <SBRY.L>, down 2.9
percent, released its second-quarter trading update, which met
forecasts with a slight slowdown in quarterly sales growth.
Peers WM Morrison <MRW.L> eased 1 percent, while Tesco
<TSCO.L>, which posted its first-half results on Tuesday, shed
1.6 percent.
British Airways <BAY.L> shed 0.7 percent. The airline said
it would cut the equivalent of 1,700 staff in the United Kingdom
and was planning a two-year freeze on basic pay for cabin crew.
Kingfisher <KGF.L> rose 2.3 percent after UBS upgraded its
recommendation on Europe's largest home improvement retailer to
"buy" from "neutral" and Morgan Stanley upped its stance to
"equal-weight" from "underweight.
Admiral Group <ADML.L> and WPP Group <WPP.L> fell after
trading ex-dividend.
FINANCIAL WANTED
Life insurers were on the advance. The sector has been been
high on investors' wanted list recently due to M&A speculation.
Aviva <AV.L>, Standard Life <SL.L>, Prudential <PRU.L> and
Friends Provident <FP.L> gained 1.2-2.6 percent
Banks were mixed with HSBC <HSBA.L> and Royal Bank of
Scotland <RBS.L> up 0.9 and 0.3 percent respectively
HSBC, Europe's largest bank, said it would be forced to
delay raising its dividend if new capital rules were applied too
heavily or quickly, the Times reported the bank's head of
investment bank as saying.
Lloyds Banking Group <LLOY.L> and Standard Chartered
<STAN.L> dropped 0.1 and 0.8 percent each.
Intercontinental Hotels <IHG.L> added 3 percent, after
Citigroup upgrades its rating to "buy" from "hold".
With little in the way of economic data for investors to
chew on, Alcoa's Q3 results were expected to get attention later
in the day as the largest aluminium maker in the United States
unofficially kicks off the third-quarter earnings season.
"If there were any serious doubts about how good the
earnings would be we wouldn't be seeing the markets make the
gains they have over the last two days," said Pope.
Earlier a survey in the UK by the Recruitment and Employment
Confederation and accountancy firm KPMG showed the number of
permanent job placements in Britain continued to grow in
September and rose at their fastest pace in 18 months.
Mid-cap recruiter Michael Page <MPI.L>, up 5.1 percent
confirmed it was beginning to see signs of stabilisation as the
company reported third-quarter results.
(Editing by Greg Mahlich)
