STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-UK small caps dow 0.5 pct at midday

The FTSE small cap index .FTSC is down 0.6 percent, but outperforms larger cap counterparts as global economic fears and retreating energy and metal prices sees the FTSE 100 .FTSE drop 1.4 percent and the FTSE 250 .FTMC shed 1.3 percent.

JJB Sports (JJB.L) falls 22 percent as the British sports retailer says it is looking at an equity fundraising. This follows a report in Saturday's Times newspaper that the firm is seeking to raise at least 50 million pounds by selling shares at 12 pence each. [ID:nL6125010]

Oxford Biomedica (OXB.L) rises 6.4 percent after the gene therapy specialist says findings by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration support further development of its lead drug, Trovax.

"These regulatory developments should allow the company to accelerate licensing discussions," says broker Panmure. [ID:nRnsF1394V]

Reuters Messaging rm://david.brett.reuters.com@reuters.net