FTSE ends down on banks, oils; Enterprise Inns up

By Dominic Lau

LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE index ended lower on Friday as banks and oil shares weighed, although Enterprise Inns (ETI.L: Quote, Profile, Research) jumped on hopes of becoming a low-tax real estate investment trust.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed down 24.6 points, or 0.4 percent, at 5,692.9, for a weekly gain of 3.6 percent -- the biggest weekly rise since July 2006.

But the UK benchmark index is still down more than 11 percent for the year on concerns about a U.S. recession, and is on course for its worst quarter since the third quarter of 2002 and its third consecutive quarter of losses. "If you believe there is more to come, then this is a precursor. If you think things are stabilising, then it's pretty good that we are not just doing this 200-point range in the afternoon. It's pretty good that we are having a quiet day," said Tom Hougaard, chief market strategist at City Index Markets.

"I am a subscriber of the latter. I do believe things are calming down a bit," he said.

Major European indexes also finished the day lower.

Pub group Enterprise Inns surged 12.6 percent after it said it expected to be able to convert into a low-tax real estate investment trust, overshadowing news that trading remains tough.

Banks suffered, with HBOS (HBOS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) down 3.1 percent, Alliance & Leicester (ALLL.L: Quote, Profile, Research) shedding 3.2 percent, Standard Chartered (STAN.L: Quote, Profile, Research) losing 1.7 percent and Lloyds TSB (LLOY.L: Quote, Profile, Research) off 1.8 percent.

Index heavyweight oil shares eased, tracking weaker crude prices CLc1. BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) was down 1.8 percent, while Royal Dutch Shell (RDSb.L: Quote, Profile, Research) eased 0.2 percent and Tullow Oil (TLW.L: Quote, Profile, Research) dipped 1.9 percent.