Britain's top share index was lower at midday on Friday as an early rally by miners evaporated and banks weakened, weighed down by a disappointing update from Barclays, and as the euro zone debt crisis hit sentiment, according to Reuters. At 1114 GMT, the FTSE 100 index was down 28.65 points, or 0.5 percent at 5,589.19, having closed 31.23 points, or 0.6 percent higher on Thursday. Barclays was the top FTSE 100 faller, shedding 5.5 percent after a first-quarter trading update. JPMorgan lowered its earnings estimates for Barclays and said the "main area of disappointment" was Barclays Capital, which reported a profit before tax of 1.712 billion pounds ($2.63 billion), versus its estimate of 2.179 billion pounds. Banks were the main overall drag on the blue chips, with HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland down 1.2 and 2.2 percent, although Standard Chartered managed to gain 0.4 percent. Euro zone finance ministers will discuss Greece's debt crisis on Friday as Athens finalises details of deep budget cuts it has pledged in return for a multi-billion euro aid package from the European Union and IMF. Greece is preparing severe austerity measures to secure the bailout of up to 120 billion euros ($159.8 billion), which investors hope will stop the debt crisis from sinking other fragile EU countries, but faces a battle with unions angered by the scale of cutbacks. "It rather looks like we have surrendered to the sentiment surrounding the Greek debt crisis," said Richard Hunter, head of UK equities at Hargreaves Lansdown. "Obviously there is much political bargaining going on, and the longer it goes on, the more difficult it will be resolve the situation, let alone any degree of contagion," Hunter said. Miners went into reverse with an early rally snuffed out as investors' risk appetite ebbed, with Rio Tinto, Vedanta Resources, BHP Billiton, and Antofagasta losing 1.4 to 2.4 percent. Integrated oils provided a bit of a floor for the blue chips, supported by a firmer crude price, with BG Group and Royal Dutch Shell up 0.9 and 1.8 percent, respectively, aided by recent results. But BP stayed under pressure, down 1.4 percent on mounting anxiety over the cost of the oil spill from one of the company's wells in the Gulf of Mexico. And oil explorer Tullow Oil shed 3.5 percent, knocked by a Deutsche Bank downgrade to "hold" from "buy". A broker downgrade also weighed on outsourcing firm Capita Group, off 1.7 percent, as Morgan Stanley cut its rating to "underweight" from "equal-weight". WPP WANTED Advertising giant WPP Group was the top FTSE 100 riser, up 2.5 percent after a bullish trading update in which it raised its key like-for-like full-year revenue forecast after a strong turnaround in the United States. Publishing group Pearson added 1.2 percent as it said it was confident underlying profit would gow this year after first-quarter revenues rose 12 percent. Fellow publisher Reed Elsevier gained 1.2 percent. And beverage can maker Rexam gained 1.2 percent helped by a UBS upgrade to "buy" from "neutral" ahead of an upcoming trading update. U.S. stock futures, pointed to a mixed open on Friday, with investors focused on the first reading for U.S. first-quarter GDP, due at 1230 GMT, with the median forecast for a +3.4 percent annualised rate versus +5.6 percent in the fourth quarter.
