* FTSE 100 rises 0.2 percent
* Imperial gains, buoyed by Goldman note
* REITs lifted by broadly positive JPMorgan note
By Tricia Wright
LONDON, April 15 (Reuters) - Britain's top shares edged up on Friday, helped by tobacco firms as Goldman Sachs said the sector could be ripe for takeovers, though investors said upbeat U.S. earnings may not be enough to spur the market significantly.
By 1133 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 12.12 points, or 0.2 percent, at 5,975.92, after hitting a two-week closing low on Thursday at 5,963.80.
"The earnings have been long-term supportive of buying equities as an asset class, but investors who were hoping that this would provide the next fillip to drive the market substantially higher may well be a little bit disappointed," Henk Potts, market strategist at Barclays Wealth, said.
"The picture is no doubt still bright, but is complicated by some macro nervousness, along with the fact that we are of course seeing the effects of higher energy and commodity prices filtering through," he said.
Imperial Tobacco was among the top blue-chip risers, up 1.6 percent, with Goldman Sachs seeing the firm as the most likely target should merger and acquisition activity return to a sector it views as inexpensive and underlevereged.
"We could envisage a BAT (British American Tobacco)/IMT (Imperial) combination, albeit with some local business disposals," the broker said in a note.
British American Tobacco rose 1.1 percent.
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Real estate investment trusts were lifted by a broadly positive note on the sector from JPMorgan, which kept its "overweight" stance on British Land and Land Securities, up 2.7 percent and 2.2 percent respectively.
On the second tier, office landlord Derwent London gained 3.2 percent as the same broker raised its rating on the stock to "overweight" from "neutral".
Retailers found favour after John Lewis's Waitrose reported soaring weekly sales, while sales at John Lewis's department stores increased 7.3 percent to 52.3 million pounds.
Next was a strong riser, up 2.1 percent, while Marks & Spencer and Kingfisher added 1.1 percent and 0.6 percent respectively.
Technical analysis for Next, however, was bearish. The stock, which has enjoyed a strong rally over the past month, spurred in part by its results, is reaching a level where it is starting to look stretched, according to broker Charles Stanley.
The 14-day relative strength index has, for example, exceeded a reading of 70 percent, which is as high as it has been all year.
Banks fell as sentiment soured after Moody's cut Ireland's sovereign rating by two notches to the verge of junk status and kept its outlook on negative.
"We're seeing continual pressure on banking stocks and it's difficult for the market to make any gains when the headlines are full of rising bond yields, downgrades to sovereign debt ratings, and the increasing likelihood of a default," Angus Campbell, head of sales at Capital Spreads, said.
U.S. peer Bank of America Corp posted a sharper-than-expected drop in first-quarter earnings on Friday, hurt by mortgage-related costs.
Sticking with financials, Man Group topped the blue-chip leader board, up 3.7 percent, bouncing back from the previous session's falls as BofA Merrill Lynch added the world's biggest listed hedge fund manager to its Europe One list.
Weakness was seen from the miners as turbo-charged first-quarter GDP growth and 32-month high inflation in China fuelled concern about further fiscal tightening from Beijing.
(Additional reporting by David Brett and Brenda Goh; Editing by Erica Billingham)