A jump in Vodafone shares (VOD.L) following forecast-beating revenues was not enough to offset a dragging energy sector, hit by weak results from BP (BP.L), and Britain's top index dipped slightly by mid-session on Tuesday. By 1136 GMT the FTSE 100 .FTSE was down 14.53 points at 4,063.25, putting it on track for a fourth straight day of losses after a 1.7 percent fall in the previous session. Results from heavily-weighted BP and Vodafone provided mixed signals for investors at a time when the market is braced for bad news. "We've got two big companies reporting today, two companies which add or take away a lot of index points," said Rob Griffiths, strategist at Cazenove. Oils took the most points off the index, led by BP, which fell 3.4 percent after it said replacement cost net profit fell 24 percent in the fourth quarter, undershooting forecasts. [ID:nL2123295] Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) was down 2 percent, Tullow Oil (TLW.L) slid 3.2 percent and Cairn Energy (CNE.L) lost 2.8 percent. Vodafone jumped 6.9 percent after increasing its guidance to reflect foreign exchange movements and said it was making good progress with its cost-savings programme. [ID:nL2694002] "When you get a move in a stock like BP it really does weigh down on the whole index," said Griffiths. "Vodafone, fair enough it's good news but it's only one stock, and it doesn't really have a sector to pull up with it, whereas the oil sector is being dragged down." The index, which tumbled over 31 percent last year, is down a further 8.2 percent so far this year. "It has certainly been a difficult January following on from a very difficult 2008 and for the time being the near term still looks very uncertain," said Keith Bowman, equity strategist at Hargreaves Lansdown.

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