Weakness in oil majors was a counter to the miners strengthhowever as crude prices CLc1

Weakness in oil majors was a counter to the miners strength,however, as crude prices CLc1 held below the $72 a barrellevel, with BP (BP.L) Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) and BG Group(BG.L) losing 0.2 to 0.5 percent. Among the banks, part-nationalised issues Lloyds BankingGroup (LLOY.L) and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) gained 1.8 and0.5 percent respectively but the sector overall was lower, withBarclays (BARC.L) down 1.7 percent, Standard Chartered (STAN.L)off 0.4 percent, and HSBC (HSBA.L) losing 1 percent. The largest shareholder in HSBC has offered for the firsttime public support for activist investor Eric Knight and urgedthe bank to answer questions he has raised over the bank'sstrategy. [ID:nLH376827] RETAIL SALES AWAITED UK retail sales data for May, due at 0830 GMT, will provideinvestors further insight into the country's growth picture,where the pace of economic deterioration has moderated.Investors will also keep a close watch on U.S weekly joblessclaims due at 1230 GMT. Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said late on Wednesdaythat there are some signs the British economy is starting tostabilise but it is too early to remove the huge degree ofstimulus in the economy.

[ID:nLAG003515] BAE Systems (BAE.L) saw good support, up 2.6 percent afterthe Daily Mail reported that Saudi Arabia is considering placingan order for further 72 Typhoon jets worth about 5 billionpounds ($8.20 billion). Fellow defence contractor Rolls-Royce (RR.L) benefitted aswell, adding 1.3 percent. Publisher Reed Elsevier (REL.L) was the biggest FTSE 100faller, down 2 percent after Morgan Stanley downgraded itsrating to "equal-weight" from "overweight" after cuttingestimates. Other media issues were weak, with Thomson Reuters TRIL.Llosing 1.3 percent and WPP Group (WPP.L) down 0.4 percent. On the second line, Mouchel Group MCH.L plunged 31 percentlower after the infrastructure services firm warned that it willmiss internal expectations this year.($1=.6098 pounds)(Editing by Mike Nesbit) Stocks Saudi Arabia. (Adds detail, context, background, byline) By Augustine Anthony ISLAMABAD, June 18 (Reuters) - Suspected U.S.

drone aircraft fired missiles at militant targets in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal region on the Afghan border on Thursday, killing at least five people, intelligence officials said. The United States, alarmed by worsening security in Afghanistan, has been using pilotless drone aircraft to attack Taliban and al Qaeda fighters in northwestern Pakistani enclaves, from where the militants mount attacks into Afghanistan. At the same time, nuclear-armed Pakistan is struggling to push back a growing Taliban insurgency of its own. Its security forces have been fighting the Islamist militants in the Swat valley, northwest of Islamabad, for more than a month. At least two of the pilotless aircraft used in Thursday's strikes hit two separate areas in the Taliban and al Qaeda stronghold of South Waziristan, the intelligence officials said.

The Pakistan military has been softening up targets in the area and is expected to expand its Swat offensive against the Taliban into South Waziristan soon. "Three missiles struck a training camp run by a local militant commander, Malang Wazir," said an intelligence official, who asked not to be identified, referring to an attack in a village west of the region's main town of Wana. Another security official, citing witnesses, said five people had been killed in the same strike. The second attack was in a separate village but neither of the officials had any details about casualties there U.S ally Pakistan objects to the U.S.