* FTSE 100 down 0.1 percent; up 2 percent this week
* Miners retreat, tracking weak metals prices
* Defensive stocks back in favour
* Aggreko, Bunzl dented by mixed trading updates
LONDON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index slipped
back on Friday after four days of gains, tracking overnight
falls on Wall Street and in Asia and weighed down by weakness in
mining stocks.
Trading was expected to be volatile, however, with the
expiry of monthly futures and options contracts which often jolt
markets due in London at around 0915 GMT.
Miners fell back in tandem with lower copper
prices as concerns over demand from top metals consumer
China returned after some more positive recent data.
China's Commerce Ministry said on Friday September trade
numbers, which showed a surge in exports at twice the rate
expected and a return to import growth, are not yet enough to
confirm that a recovery is in place for the external sector.
At 0804 GMT, the FTSE 100 index was down 6.17 points, or 0.1
percent at 5,910.88, having added 0.1 percent on Thursday to hit
a seven-month closing high, with the index ahead over 2.1
percent in the four-sessions up to Friday.
"Recent strength has led many in the market to assume that a
run up to, and through, 6,000 in now simply a formality in the
near term, but the fact that it has entered a zone where so much
resistance has been encountered over the last twelve months
means that such a burst to the upside might not be quite so
straightforward," Charles Stanley technical analyst Bill
McNamara said.
"Uptrend support is now at 5,790 or so and it is not
inconceivable that it could come back into play before too
long."
Temporary power provider Aggreko and packaging firm
Bunzl were the two top individual blue chip fallers,
down 6.8 percent and 3.4 percent respectively, after the two
posted mixed trading updates.
Volumes for both were strong, with Aggreko at 273 percent of
its 90-day daily average, and Bunzl at 109 percent.
Overall trading volume for the FTSE 100 index was 11 percent
of the 90-day daily average.
As investors shunned stocks perceived as riskier, defensives
- those shares seen as less exposed to the vagaries of the
economic cycle - were back in favour, with drugmakers, drinks,
and food producers all advancing.
"Long term we are bullish on the outlook for equities and
see the next correction as an opportune time to add to longs ...
Saying that, however, we remain buyers of defensive names and
are decreasing risk on low volume rallies and anticipate a
cheaper entry point," said Atif Latif, director of trading at
Guardian Stockbrokers.
Strategists at Shore Capital also favour defensive stocks to
cyclicals.
"We remain defensively orientated in sector positioning
supported we believe by valuations as well as the economic
cycle," Shore Cap equity strategist, Gerard Lane said in a note.
(Reporting by Jon Hopkins)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-stocks-slip-back-four-sessions-gains-083228340--business.html
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