Shares of Vodafone Group (UK:VOD 134.60, +3.35, +2.56%) (VOD 21.61, -0.17, -0.78%) rose 2.1% in London, after the strategists raised the sector to overweight from neutral and advised exposure to Vodafone Group, France Telecom and KPN in particular. "Positive seasonality into the fourth quarter is a support, as are valuations," the broker said. It noted that European telecoms are trading at a 50% relative price to earnings discount. "These changes move us away from an aggressive cyclicals overweight, which we held since Feb. 3, towards a smaller overweight stance," the broker said after it also downgraded metals and mining to neutral from overweight. After a 75% run since it upgraded the sector on Dec. 3, the mining sector is "not as attractive anymore," trading at a 52% price-to-earnings premium to the broad market vs. historical averages, the broker said. Miners weakened in London on Tuesday, with shares of Rio Tinto (UK:RIO 2,456, -58.00, -2.31%) (RTP 162.51, +3.26, +2.05%) down 2.7% and shares of Xstrata (UK:XTA 842.50, -28.00, -3.22%) down 3.3%. The losses in the mining sector added pressure to the top FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 4,878, -18.68, -0.38%) , which declined 0.4%, or 17.30 points, to 4,878.93, snapping five straight sessions of gains. Shares trading on the Continent and in Asia were also lower, while U.S. stock futures were pointing to a mixed open on Wall Street. See Europe Markets. On Monday, the top U.K. index ended with a gain of 0.9%, its highest close since Oct. 3. Since January, the index has gained 10.4%. Shares have risen as investors started to hope that the global economy is past the worst point, after central banks pulled out all the stops to shore up economic growth. Late Monday, reports emerged that U.S. President Barack Obama plans to announce the reappointment of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that Obama will credit Bernanke for "pulling the economy back from the brink of depression." See full story. Turning to companies updating investors on Tuesday and shares of oil producer Cairn Energy (UK:CNE 2,578, -46.00, -1.75%) declined 1.6%. It swung to a first-half net loss of $60.9 million, from a profit of $361.7 million a year ago. Revenue dropped to $17.1 million, from $180.4 million last year. Cairn said that it took an exceptional charge in the period related to the Rawa field where its share of petroleum produced has been disputed for some years with the Indian government. Production is due to start shortly from Mangala with initial volumes evacuated by trucking. The target for completing the second processing train and the pipeline is the end of 2009 but it is increasingly challenging, the firm said. Outside the top index, shares of pub operator Punch Taverns (UK:PUB 118.20, +10.60, +9.85%) jumped 9.6%. Trading results continue to reflect a reduction in disposable income among customers and it doesn't expect to see demand improve in the near-term, it said, though it added that it remains on track to meet its expectations for the fiscal year

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