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UK's FTSE -100 down , Dow seen bouncing

LONDON: Britain's FTSE 100 index was down but well off its earlier lows by early afternoon Thursday, reassured by prospects for a firm opening on Wall Street.

With the Bank of England's quarter point interest rate rise proving little surprise to a market awaiting such a move, the index was down a slim 23.2 points or 0.4 percent at 6,292.2 by 1416 GMT -- having recovered from an early fall of more than 100 points.

A sharp rise in banking group Barclays up 9.9 percent ahead of next week's results, added some 10 points to the FTSE 100. Some funds were said to be switching into Barclays from NatWest as the latter seemed set to lose its battle for independence.

Drug stocks were also in favour, with Glaxo Wellcome and merger partner SmithKline up 1.5 percent or more to lift the index almost eight points.

On the downside, telecom and technology stocks lured profit-takers after recent strong gains, with Logica and Telewest Communications , figuring among the top ten losers.

British Telecom and Cable & Wireless weighed on the index, delivering some 19 points of downside.

On Wall Street, the Dow was seen opening slightly higher, recovering from Wednesday's heavy losses.-Reuters