* FTSE 100 down 0.2 percent, yo-yoing around 5,800
* Ex-dividends account for about third of the fall
* Gains by miners, banks underpin the blue chips
LONDON, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Britain's top shares edged lower
on Wednesday, tracking falls on Wall Street and in Asia on
concerns over the global growth outlook, although gains in
heavyweight miners and banks provided a floor under the FTSE 100
index around the 5,800 level.
At 0805 GMT, the FTSE 100 index was down 12.45
points or 0.2 percent at 5,797.80, having shed 0.5 percent on
Tuesday after the International Monetary Fund issued a downbeat
view on global economic growth.
"There does not seem to be a great deal of conviction in the
market ... There are a whole range of factors driving the market
in the background, potentially one way or the other, with the
results season just adding a touch of nerves after Alcoa's
outlook downgrade," said Keith Bowman, equities analyst at
Hargreaves Lansdown.
Metals group Alcoa kicked off the U.S. third-quarter
earnings season after Wall Street's close on Tuesday. The
group's third-quarter profit beat market expectations, despite
weak prices, but it lowered its global aluminium consumption
outlook for 2012 mainly due to a slowdown of demand in China.
Miners, however, shrugged aside the mixed
message from Alcoa and led the FTSE 100 gainers with the sector
focused on fresh signs of pro-growth policies by Beijing, the
world's biggest consumer of many metals.
Chinese state-backed media on Wednesday pointed to fresh
policies to stabilise the world's second-largest economy. In one
of the policies mentioned, China is likely to offer incentives
to spur vehicle sales in rural areas to boost consumption and
support a slowing economy.
British banks were also in demand led by
part-nationalised lenders Lloyds Banking Group and
Royal Bank of Scotland, the top two FTSE 100 gainers up
3.5 percent and 2.3 percent respectively.
Britain's Financial Services Authority has relaxed capital
and liquidity rules on banks in an effort to stimulate lending
and use bank regulation to moderate the economic cycle, the
Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
"These (RBS and Lloyds) are the two banks which are most
exposed, along with Barclays. If they get a bit of leeway from
the regulator, that's breathing space for these banks, which in
short term is good for the shares. Longer term I stay very
cautious," said Chirantan Barua, senior analyst at Bernstein
Research.
Stocks trading ex-dividend, where investors no longer
qualify for the companies' latest dividends, knocked 2.87 points
off the FTSE 100 index on Wednesday, after the resulting
adjustment to prices by market-makers.
Kingfisher, Smith & Nephew, Tesco,
Wolseley and WPP Group were all trading without
their dividend entitlements.
Smith & Nephew was the biggest blue chip faller, losing 2.6
percent after Societe Generale restarted coverage on the
orthopaedics firm's stock with a "sell" rating.
"Given downside risk to the consensus EPS forecasts, an
unappealing valuation, and an M&A overhang, we reinitiate
coverage with a Sell rating. The upside risks are unlikely to
alter our view until 2014," the broker said in a note.
(Reporting by Jon Hopkins; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/britains-ftse-weak-global-growth-concerns-083248464--business.html
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