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Falls at Intu and RBS nudge UK's FTSE off record peaks

Reuters - UK Focus

* FTSE 100 slips down off record highs

* Intu Properties (Other OTC: CCRGF - news) falls after results

* Lloyds edges higher after resuming dividend

* Canaccord upgrade boosts StanChart (HKSE: 2888-OL.HK - news)

* Airline IAG touches record highs

By Sudip Kar-Gupta

LONDON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - A drop in the share prices of Intu Properties and Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS.L - news) nudged Britain's top equity index down from record highs on Friday.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index - which hit a record intraday peak of 6,958.89 points on Tuesday - dipped 0.2 percent to 6,936.17 points by the middle of the trading session. The FTSE remained up around 3 percent since the start of February.

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"It has had a good run and it's the end of the month so I think we're going to see it drift lower today as people book some profit," said Joe Rundle, head of trading at ETX Capital.

Intu Properties Plc fell 4.2 percent, making it the worst FTSE 100 stock in percentage terms, after the shopping centre owner posted its third consecutive yearly decline in net rental income.

Royal Bank of Scotland, which announced on Thursday further cutbacks to its investment banking operations and a 3.5 billion pound ($5.39 billion) loss, also weakened 2.7 percent after Societe Generale (Paris: FR0000130809 - news) downgraded RBS to "sell" from "hold" while JP Morgan cut its price target on RBS.

However, RBS' rival Lloyds - which along with RBS was bailed out during the financial crisis of 2007-2009 - rose 0.6 percent after announcing its first dividend in more than six years.

Another financial stock that outperformed was Asian-focused bank Standard Chartered (HKSE: 2888.HK - news) , which rose sharply for the second day in a row after Canaccord Genuity (Other OTC: CCORF - news) raised its rating on StanChart to "hold" from "sell".

British Airways' owner International Consolidated Airlines Group also rose 3.2 percent and briefly set a record high after increasing its 2015 profit forecast.

Steve Ruffley, chief market strategist at InterTrader, expected the FTSE to hit a record level of 7,000 points but added it could then fall back as uncertainty ahead of Britain's general elections in May kicked in.

"Buy every intraday low point of value you can find until we hit 7,000. After that, be wary of staying 'long'," he said.

($1 = 0.6494 pounds) (Additional reporting by Francesco Canepa; Editing by Toby Chopra)