Reuters
Published Jul 27, 2009 07:06AM ET
Updated Jul 27, 2009 07:16AM ET
* Miners, oil majors up as commodity prices rise
* Media climbs; Pearson jumps after H1
* Bank sector main drag
* Defensives weak; Rexam falls on likely fund-raising
By Jon Hopkins
LONDON, July 27 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index gained 0.5 percent by midday on Monday, on course to extend its winning run to a record-equaling 11th straight session as strength in commodity issues and media offset weakness in defensive stocks.
By 1049 GMT, the FTSE 100 <.ftse> was 22.86 points higher at 4,599.47 points after closing at a 6-1/2 month peak of 4,576.61 points on Friday.
"After proving to be a ceiling for so long, many are hoping that the 4,500 level will now become the floor to any weaknesses, with dips back to here expected to tempt out fresh buyers," said David Jones, chief market strategist at spread betters IG Index.
The index has risen almost 11 percent over the past two weeks on reassuring U.S. corporate earnings results, and is up over 32 percent since a year low hit in March. It would equal the last longest winning run, which was between December 2003 and January 2004.
Oil majors added the most points to the index as crude
prices
Miners were also up, with Antofagasta
Platinum miner Lonmin
Pearson
Elsewhere within the media sector, BSkyB
Lloyds Banking Group
However, overall the banking sector was the main drag on the
blue chips as heavyweight HSBC
REXAM TINNED
Rexam
Brewer SABMiller
Tobacco stocks suffered a similar fate, with British
American Tobacco
Food retailers were also weak, with Tesco
Sainsbury started selling non-food products on the Internet on Sunday as part of its growth strategy centred on expanding beyond its core grocery offering. [nLQ673731]
Britain's economy will grow just 0.5 percent next year and 1.5 percent in 2011, meaning it will take far longer to recover than in previous recessions, business firm Deloitte said in its latest quarterly review. [ID:nLQ480900]
Meanwhile, house prices in England and Wales were flat for a third consecutive month in July, causing the year-on-year decline to slow to 7.7 percent from 8.7 percent, property data company Hometrack said, warnings that a recovery in house prices could be a long way off. [ID:nLO264117]
June U.S. new home sales numbers will be a focus later, with the consensus forecast for a rise of 0.36 million, up from 0.342 million in May. (Editing by Mike Nesbit)
Written By: Reuters
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