* Miners, energy stocks gain as weaker dollar lifts commods
* Banks rise as risk appetite returns
By Jon Hopkins
LONDON, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index was up
1.7 percent at midday on Monday, fuelled by strength in miners
and energy stocks thanks to firmer commodity prices, while
improved risk appetite also boosted banks.
At 1209 GMT, the FTSE 100 index <> was 90.46 points
higher at 5,341.87, having closed 0.3 percent lower on Friday
and fallen in the previous three sessions.
The UK blue chip index is up 20.5 percent this year, and has
soared more than 50 percent since touching a six year trough in
March.
Miners bolstered the recovery as the price of gold powered
to a record above $1,160 an ounce on Monday, lifted by a
retreating dollar, which also promoted a sharp rise in copper
prices.
"With no end in sight for the dollar's slump, gold's success
looks set to continue pushing the FTSE towards the psychological
5,500 barrier," said Philip Gillett, sales trader at IG Index.
Eurasian Natural Resources <ENRC.L>, Randgold Resources
<RRS.L>, Fresnillo <FRES.L>, Lonmin <LMI.L>, Xstrata <XTA.L>,
and Rio Tinto <RIO.L> gained 3.8 to 4.8 percent.
Banking issues, which tend to be beneficiaries of increasing
risk appetite, also rose strongly.
Barclays <BARC.L>, HSBC <HSBA.L>, Standard Chartered
<STAN.L> and Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L> took on 2.2 to 3.2
percent.
Lloyds Banking Group <LLOY.L> added 2.7 percent after it
said it had agreed to swap 8.78 billion pounds (14.5 billion) of
bonds as part of a deal aimed at funding its exit from a costly
state-backed insurance scheme for bad debts.
Oil majors pushed higher as crude prices <CLc1> also
benefited from the weaker dollar. BP <BP.L>, Royal Dutch Shell
<RDSa.L>, and BG Group <BG.L> added 0.7 to 1.6 percent.
Tullow Oil <TLW.L> missed out on the gains, however,
shedding 0.9 percent as investors assessed the implications of
the sale by Heritage Oil <HOIL.L> of its Ugandan operations, in
which Tullow is a 50 percent partner.
Mid-cap explorer Heritage reversed earlier gains to shed 5.1
percent as the news of the Ugandan disposal to Italy's Eni
<ENI.MI> for up to $1.5 billion was balanced by the ending of
merger talks with Turkey's Genel. []
Otherwise, a hotchpotch of defensive issues were among the
limited blue chip fallers, with testing equipment firm Intertek
<ITRK.L> losing 0.8 percent, packaging firm Bunzl <BNZL.L>
shedding 0.5 percent, and outsourcing group Serco <SRP.L> also
falling 0.5 percent.
WALL STREET EYED
U.S. stock index futures <SPc1>, <DJc1> pointed to a higher
open on Wall Street, recovering after falls on Friday helped by
the weak dollar and a rise in crude prices.
A group of U.S. business economists boosted their forecast
for economic growth over the next year, but said the jobless
rate will remain stubbornly high, a survey released on Monday
showed.
The National Association for Business Economists predicted
real growth in gross domestic product for 2010 would be 2.9
percent, up from its October forecast for 2.6 percent growth.
[]
Investor attention was also focused on U.S. existing home
sales data for October, scheduled for release at 1330 GMT.
According to a Reuters poll of 29 economists, sales of
previously owned homes are expected to climb to a seasonally
adjusted annual rate of 5.70 million, the fastest pace since
5.73 million units were sold in July 2007 and up from 5.57
million units in September.
Pascal Lamy, director general of the World Trade
Organisation, told the Sunday Telegraph that the British
government could face trade sanctions if it is found guilty of
protectionism as a result of the bank bailout. []
(Editing by John Stonestreet)
((jon.hopkins@reuters.com; +44 207 542 8954; Reuters
Messaging:jon.hopkins.reuters.com@reuters.net))
