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* FTSE 100 down 0.1%, FTSE 250 flat
* Burberry jumps after Q2 results
* 3i drops after H1 report
* FirstGroup tracking worst day in more than a year
(Adds news items, analyst comment, updates share prices)
By Shashwat Awasthi
Nov 14 (Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 edged lower on
Thursday, as a 6% drop in private equity company 3i and a
handful of stocks trading ex-dividend overshadowed an
earnings-driven surge in luxury brand Burberry.
The main index shed 0.1% with 3i Group hitting a
five-month low after its first-half report and heavyweight
components Sainsbury, Shell and GSK
weighing as they traded without dividend entitlement.
Luxury brand Burberry, however, surged 7% as the
popularity of designer Riccardo Tisci's collections boosted
quarterly sales and offset declines in Hong Kong where trading
was hit by ongoing protests.
The mid-cap FTSE 250 was flat, though transport
operator FirstGroup slid 14.5%, on track for its worst
day since May 2018 after a bigger first-half loss due to a
charge related to its Greyhound bus line business.
British markets avoided sharp declines despite a host of
trigger points, including weak Chinese factory output data,
anxiety around U.S.-China trade and political uncertainty in the
U.S. amid an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.
Slowing Chinese factory output growth was yet another sign
of how Beijing's trade dispute with Washington was weighing on
demand. To that end, China said the countries were holding
in-depth discussions on a "phase one" trade agreement.
"If a deal doesn't go through in the next couple of weeks,
the optimism seen in financial markets will rapidly turn into
pessimism and I wouldn't be surprised to see a 5-10% correction
in equity markets," said Hussein Sayed, Chief Market Strategist
at FXTM.
"At this stage, markets are in a wait-and-see mode until
further developments emerge."
Mid-cap Tullow Oil, which tanked nearly 30% in the
previous session after cutting its production forecast, skidded
another 4.5% as multiple brokerages downgraded the stock.
Jefferies analysts said poor quality of crude that Tullow
discovered in Guyana was "an epic setback".
Airport operator Stobart tumbled as much as 9% on
the small-cap index after suspendeding its dividend and posting
a bigger first-half loss.
(Reporting by Shashwat Awasthi in Bengaluru; Editing by
Shailesh Kuber, Bernard Orr)
