U.K. Stocks Pare Drop; Friends Provident, Imperial Tobacco Rise

Source from:  By Adam Haigh March 10 (Bloomberg) 03/11/2008

U.K. stocks pared earlier declines. Friends Provident Plc, a U.K. life insurer, and Imperial Tobacco Group Plc, Europe's second-biggest cigarette maker, led advancing shares. Bovis Homes Group Plc fell. The benchmark FTSE 100 Index rose 3.4, or less than 0.1 percent, to 5,703.3 at 11:01 a.m. London time, having earlier fallen as much as 0.9 percent. The FTSE All-Share Index also lost 0.1 percent, while Ireland's ISEQ Index slipped 0.1 percent. Friends Provident climbed 2.7 percent to 121.3 pence, while Imperial Tobacco added 2.1 percent to 2,392 pence. Bovis Homes slumped 8.2 percent to 530 pence after saying full-year profit declined 8.6 percent to 86.9 million pounds ($175 million). To contact the reporter on this story: Adam Haigh in London at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net Enditem