UPDATE 2-FTSE 100 up on stimulus hopes despite ECB snub

* FTSE 100 up 0.6%, FTSE 250 down 0.03%
* Financial stocks dip after ECB rate decision, TLTRO
* Defensive stocks back in demand
* Ex-dividend trading knocks Sainsbury , Vodafone
* Transport firm Go-Ahead, Peppa Pig maker surge on mid-caps

(Adds news items, analyst comment, updates to closing prices)
By Shashwat Awasthi
June 6 (Reuters) - London's main index rose as investors bet
central banks would soon ease policy in response to concerns
about global growth, though the rally was dampened after the
European Central Bank delayed any potential interest rate hike
to next year.
The FTSE 100 .FTSE rose 0.6%. The mid-cap FTSE 250 .FTMC
gave up its earlier gains to end marginally lower as financial
stocks slipped as investors were left disappointed by the ECB's
cheap loan lending programme for banks.
The ECB pledged to keep its interest rates unchanged at
least through the first half of 2020, instead of the end of this
year as it had said in March, which was not dovish enough for
investors counting on policy easing in the near-term.
"Instead of taking a rate hike off the table, it's instead
decided to simply push the first hike further out. Head still in
the sand. Markets still pricing for a cut before then,"
Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson said.
Most of the FTSE 100's gains came earlier in the session as
worries over Washington's escalating trade tensions with Beijing
and Mexico gave way to hopes that major central banks would
provide fresh stimulus in response.
"We're at a 'bad news is good news' point now for stocks as
markets turn back to their old habit of requiring weaker data to
push up expectations for stimulus," Wilson said.
Defensive blue-chip stocks such as those of tobacco and
healthcare companies, considered safer bets in times of
uncertainty, drove later moves, according to a trader. Imperial
Brands IMB.L jumped 5.7% on its best day in more than a year.
However, supermarket chain Sainsbury SBRY.L , retailer
Kingfisher KGF.L and telecoms giant Vodafone VOD.L shed
between 3.8% and 4.8% as the stocks traded ex-dividend.
Despite a dip in financial stocks, the mid-cap index was
cushioned by Peppa Pig maker Entertainment One ETO.L , which
surged 16%, recouping almost all of its losses from the previous
session.
The company denied media reports that president Mark Gordon
would leave the company, and the stock posted its biggest
one-day gain in more than 3-1/2 years. Go-Ahead Group GOG.L , which operates a quarter of London's
local buses and the Southeastern rail franchise, climbed 10.5%
on its best day since September 2018, after it raised full-year
expectations for its London and international bus division.