* Miners in demand; metals prices rally
* Banks higher after analyst's comments lift U.S. banks
* Vodafone falls after UBS downgrade
* Investors eye Goldman Sachs quarterly results
By Tricia Wright
LONDON, July 14 (Reuters) - London's top share index rose by
midday Tuesday, lifted by a buoyant mining sector as metals
prices rallied, and with banks firmer ahead of eagerly-awaited
quarterly results from Goldman Sachs <GS.N>.
By 1032 GMT, the FTSE 100 index <> was up 25.76 points
or 0.6 percent at 4,227.89, after closing 1.8 percent higher on
Monday.
The index has gained over 22 percent since hitting a
six-year low in March, but is still down 4.6 percent for the
year.
"We've defined the 4,000 as a very strong support point to
the current market now," said Stephen Pope, chief global market
strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald.
"Hopefully we're going to be able to build our bases in the
region of the 4,200, 4,300's for the summer and just try and
move on from that as we see earnings coming through, and I'm
convinced that earnings will actually be surprising to the
upside against completely negative," he said.
Miners added the most points to the blue chips, with the
sector higher as metals prices rose.
Anglo American <AAL.L>, Antofagasta <ANTO.L>, BHP Billiton
<BLT.L>, ENRC <ENRC.L> and Rio Tinto <RIO.L> added 2.3-4.4
percent.
Banks advanced, still riding on momentum from the U.S.
markets, buoyed after influential bank analyst Meredith Whitney,
who had previously been bearish, said in comments to CNBC
television that bank shares were in for at least a short-term
gain of 15 percent.
Barclays <BARC.L>, HSBC <HSBA.L>, Lloyds Banking Group
<LLOY.L> and Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L> put on between 1.7
and 3.1 percent.
Strength was also seen among insurers. Legal & General
<LGEN.L>, Old Mutual <OML.L> and Prudential <PRU.L> added
1.6-2.8 percent.
Energy stocks pushed higher, as crude <CLc1> stayed above
$60 a barrel. BP <BP.L> added 0.8 percent, BG Group <BG.L>
firmed 0.7 percent and Tullow Oil <TLW.L> climbed 3.1 percent.
VODAFONE WEIGHS
Vodafone <VOD.L> was the biggest single drag on the blue
chips, down 2.3 percent, after a downgrade from UBS to "neutral"
from "buy" and a cut in the price target chilled appetite for
the telecoms giant.
UBS said in a note that economic pressures, market share
loss and currency effects have combined to put pressure on
earnings estimates at the telecoms operator, and that earnings
will decline 11 percent this year.
Economic data gave modest cause for optimism.
The British Retail Consortium said retail sales rose in June
as a heatwave drove consumers into shops to stock up on summer
clothes, picnic food and garden furniture. []
The BRC said like-for-like sales rose 1.4 percent last month
compared with a year ago, more than reversing a 0.8 percent drop
in May.
There was also encouraging news from the beleaguered housing
market. House prices in England and Wales fell at their slowest
annual pace in almost two years last month, while confidence in
the price outlook turned positive for the first time since May
2007, a survey showed on Tuesday.
All eyes this afternoon be on U.S. corporate performance,
which will give more of a steer on the likely timing and
intensity of economic recovery. Alongside Goldman Sachs, Intel
<INTC.O> and Johnson & Johnson <JNJ.N> are also scheduled to
release quarterly results.
