FTSE retreats after Bank of America, GE results

Britain's top share index was lower at midday on Friday, led by banks after quarterly earnings numbers from Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) and General Electric (GE.N) disappointed.

At 1145 GMT, the FTSE 100 .FTSE was off 26.47 points, or 0.5 percent, at 5,196.48, after closing down 0.6 percent at 5,222.95 on Thursday.

Bank of America, hit by consumer credit losses, posted its second quarterly loss in less than a year, while General Electric reported better than expected earnings but revenue missed expectations.

There is a bit of a story with the banks that possibly JPMorgan (JPM.N) set the hurdle rate very high, said Philip Lawlor, chief portfolio strategist at Nomura.

And at the margin it's difficult for the banks -- you saw it with Goldman (GS.N) yesterday -- to now come in and have the same type of positive reaction.

Banks took the most points off the index, with Barclays (BARC.L), HSBC (HSBA.L) and Standard Chartered (STAN.L) falling 1.1-1.4 percent.

Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) bucked the trend and was up 2.8 percent, rallying after recent falls on rights issue concerns thanks to support from a Deutsche Bank upgrade and news of a minor disposal.

Miners were also out of favour, extending Thursday's falls against a backdrop of easing metals prices. Rio Tinto (RIO.L), Randgold Resources (RRS.L), Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC.L) and Antofagasta (ANTO.L) dropped 1 percent to 2.3 percent.

Energy stocks rose, with crude CLc1 above $77 a barrel after touching a one-year high earlier on an unexpectedly steep drop in U.S. oil product stocks and weakness in the dollar.

BG Group (BG.L), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), BP (BP.L), Tullow Oil (TLW.L) and Cairn Energy (CNE.L) were up 0.7-2.7 percent, also helped by target price increases from ING.

Among mid-cap issues, bus and rail operator National Express (NEX.L) slid 27 percent after a consortium, led by Spain's Cosmen family, decided against making a takeover offer. Peer Stagecoach (SGC.L) fell 4.8 percent, while FirstGroup (FGP.L) dropped 2.1 percent.

U.S. September industrial output and capital utilisation numbers were due at 1315 GMT, followed by the preliminary reading for October's University of Michigan consumer sentiment index at 1355 GMT.