By Simon Falush
LONDON (Reuters) - The FTSE 100 <.FTSE> index slipped 0.2 percent by midday on Wednesday as weakness in banks outweighed gains in energy stocks buoyed by the firmer crude price.
By 11:48 a.m. the FTSE 100 was down 10.97 points at 4,471.28 after closing 0.8 percent higher at 4,482.25 on Tuesday. The index is up 1.3 percent on the year and has rallied almost 30 percent since its trough set on March 9.
But moves on Wednesday were muted as the index swung between negative and positive territory and analysts said investors awaiting more newsflow to give the market direction.
"There's a lack of newsflow, and investors are being fickle so it won't take too much to push sentiment from being bearish to being bullish," said James Hughes, market analyst at CMC markets.
Lloyds Banking Group <LLOY.L> fell 5.9 percent from its adjusted price after the right to take part in a 4 billion pound fund raising and buy more shares at a substantial discount expired on Tuesday.
Lloyds shares closed on Tuesday at 100.3 pence, which was adjusted to 76.6 pence to account for the share offer entitlement.
Other banks were also weaker. HSBC <HSBA.L>, Standard Chartered <STAN.L>, Barclays <BARC.L> fell 1.8 to 3.2 percent.
British manufacturing orders fell slightly more than expected in May, but firms were more upbeat about the future than at any time since last September, a survey from the Confederation of British Industry showed.
Commodity stocks gained, tracking firmer crude prices.
Energy stocks BP <BP.L>, Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L>, BG Group <BG.L>, Tullow Oil <TLW.L> and Cairn Energy <CNE.L> added 0.9-1.9 percent.
Experian <EXPN.L> rose 3.8 percent after the credit information firm reported an 8 percent increase in full-year operating profit, beating market expectations.
REELING RETAILERS
Retailers slid, adding to the previous session's losses after high street chain Marks & Spencer <MKS.L> reported a 40 percent slide in full-year profits, denting sentiment on prospects for consumer focussed stocks.
Marks & Spencer fell 2.6 percent adding to Tuesday's 8 percent fall and Sainsbury <SBRY.L> and Home Retail <HOME.L> fell 4.2 and 4.3 percent respectively.
Heavyweight mobile telephone group Vodafone <VOD.L> slid 2.8 percent after Fitch Ratings changed the outlook on the long term issuer default rating to "negative" from "stable."
Data showing the worst ever contraction in Japan's economy in the first quarter limited the rise on Japan's Nikkei 225 <.N225> on Wednesday.
Japan's economy shrank a record 4.0 percent in the first quarter as domestic demand and investment buckled, threatening to crush any export-led rebound later this year.
The data did add to growing evidence that global trade may have bottomed out in the first quarter. Net exports proved to be less of a drag on the world's second-largest economy than in the previous three months, and companies ran down inventories.
Chancellor Alistair Darling told the Times that Britain is set to resume growth by the end of 2009 and the government does not plan to alter its economic forecasts.
Defensive pharmaceutical stocks performed relatively well as investors edged back into safer haven assets. GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L> added 0.7 percent while Shire <SHP.L> gained 1.3 percent off and AstraZeneca <AZN.L> climbed 1.9 percent.
(Editing by Hans Peters)