FTSE ends up 1.4% as oils, Tesco gain; miners weak
* FTSE 100 ends up 1.4 percent
* Tesco advances after trading update
* Oils majors gain as crude steadies
* Miners weak amid global demand concerns
By Jon Hopkins
LONDON, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Britain's leading share index ended 1.4 pct higher on Tuesday, recovering some of Monday's falls in tandem with a rally on Wall Street, with oil stocks higher as crude prices steadied, offsetting weakness in miners. The FTSE 100 .FTSE was up 57.37 points at 4,122.86, below the day's peak of 4.137.11 but well above the 3,973.26 low.
The UK benchmark slid 5.2 percent Monday and is down over 36 percent on the year amid fears of a deep global recession.
"A rebound from a sell off that went too far yesterday is a likely contributor as are noises from central governments that they may be willing to go further to help their ailing economies," said David Evans, market analyst at BetOnMarkets.com
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Monday the government was working on new programs to stimulate lending.
"Whatever the reason for today's rally, investors are grateful that last week's gains haven't been wiped before the end of Tuesday," Evans added.
Tesco was a top FTSE 100 riser, up 13 percent as Britain's biggest retailer said its new budget range was luring an extra 300,000 shoppers a week, raising hopes it may be better placed to cope with a recession than its rivals.
"Traders are impressed with Tesco's flexibility in being able to compete against both the discount and higher cost super markets," said Evans.
Other food retailers were mixed. Sainsbury (SBRY.L) fell 1 percent but Morrison Supermarkets (MRW.L) gained 2.4 percent.
Oil issues provided the main lift for the UK blue chips, recovering with a steadier crude price CLc1 after recent falls, although crude stayed below $49 a barrel. BP (BP.L) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) both firmed 2.6 percent.
Oil services firm Petrofac (PFC.L) rose 7.9 percent.
British Airways (BAY.L) was also a big blue chip riser, adding 12.5 percent after the flag carrier said it was in merger talks with Australia's Qantas (QAN.AX).
Meanwhile Thomas Cook (TCG.L) rose 7.4 percent after Europe's second-biggest travel firm reported a sharp rise in full-year profits and raised its final dividend.
The UK equity market is showing a "bottoming pattern" which will see stabilisation as a range of key indicators reach historic levels, Sanjeev Shah, manager of Fidelity's 2 billion pound ($3 billion) Special Situations Fund told Reuters on Tuesday.
"Everything I look at in terms of valuations, sentiment indicators, directors' dealings, indicate to me we are now going to go through a bottoming pattern in the market," Shah said.
MINERS, BANKS WEIGH ON SENTIMENT
Miners were the biggest blue chip fallers as metal prices retreated on demand worries as the global recession takes hold.
Rio Tinto (RIO.L) was down 10.9 percent, while Xstrata (XTA.L) shed 10.8 percent, Fresnillo (FRES.L) fell 7.1 percent, and BHP Billiton (BLT.L) lost 4.3 percent.
Vedanta Resources (VED.L), however, bucked the trend adding 5.1 percent after the India-focused miner said it would spend $250 million on buying back up to 10 percent of its shares.
Similarly, among the under-pressure banks, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) shares jumped 16.8 percent higher ahead of a re-weighting of the stock in both the FTSE 100 index and the MSCI Europe .MIEU00000PUS after the close Tuesday.
Merrill Lynch also restarted RBS with a "buy" rating and said it should have time to implement a strategic overhaul.
Otherwise banks were mixed. Barclays (BARC.L) and HSBC (HSBA.L) lost 3.5 and 1.4 percent respectively, but HBOS HBOS.L, Lloyds TSB (LLOY.L) and Standard Chartered (STAN.L) gained between 3.4 and 5.4 percent. (Editing by Hans Peters)
