Pearson lags as UK's FTSE slips off record high
* FTSE down 0.3 pct after touching record high
* Pearson (Xetra: 858266 - news) hit by report of possible LA contract glitch
* Unilever (NYSE: UL - news) rises after solid sales
* Rise in gold boosts Fresnillo (Other OTC: FNLPF - news) and Randgold
By Sudip Kar-Gupta
LONDON, April 16 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index
slipped off record highs on Thursday, with media group Pearson
underperforming after a newpaper report of a glitch in
a lucrative contract.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index initially rose to an
all-time high of 7,119.35 points but then edged back. The index
was down 0.3 percent at 7,078.92 points going into the close of
trading.
Pearson fell 3.6 percent, one of the worst performers on the
FTSE, after the Los Angeles Times reported that the Los Angeles
Unified School District was seeking a refund from Apple (Shanghai: 603020.SS - news)
over a bungled $1.3 billion effort to supply students with
iPads.
The district's initiative, launched in 2013, to equip each
of its roughly 650,000 students with an iPad or another computer
device with curriculum material from Pearson, was the largest
educational technology project of its kind in the United States.
Diageo (LSE: DGE.L - news) , the world's largest spirits maker, fell 3
percent after it reported lower quarterly sales.
The FTSE has hit a series of record highs this month despite
political uncertainty before Britain's general election on May
7, which has hit sterling.
Opinion polls put the governing Conservatives neck-and-neck
with the opposition Labour party, and the Scottish National
Party may emerge as the third-biggest party, raising prospects
of a hung parliament.
The Conservatives have promised a referendum on Britain's
membership of the European Union by the end of 2017, if they
win.
Some traders have said the FTSE has managed to rise against
that backdrop since the weakness in sterling could help British
exporters, but Beaufort Securities' sales trader Basil Petrides
was more cautious.
"I'm not willing to buy into the market at these levels with
the election just around the corner," he said.
UNILEVER, GOLD MINERS RISE
Consumer goods group Unilever rose 2.8 percent
after better-than-expected sales.
Precious metal miners Randgold and Fresnillo
also advanced as gold extended gains after sluggish
U.S. data weakened the dollar. A weaker dollar makes gold
cheaper for holders of other currencies, and more attractive as
a hedge against economic downturn.
InterTrader's chief market strategist Steve Ruffley said the
FTSE could rise to 7,300 points over the coming month.
"The outcome will most likely be a Conservative coalition.
Immediately after the election, we will probably sell off but
any major sell-off will be bought back very quickly."
(Additional reporting by Alasdair Pal and Alistair Smout;
Editing by Crispian Balmer and John Stonestreet)