* Rising commodity prices lift oils and miners
* Drugmakers higher on GlaxoSmithKline vaccine approval
* G20 in focus as leaders to keep stimulus in place
By Harpreet Bhal
LONDON, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Britain's top shares were higher
at midday on Friday, lifted by strength in energy stocks as a
pledge by world leaders to keep economic support in place
settled investor nerves and lifted commodity prices.
By 1048 GMT, the FTSE 100 <> was 0.4 percent, or 21.8
points higher at 5,101.07, gaining traction after finishing
below 5,100 for the first time in a week on Thursday.
Oil and gas firms were the biggest gainers, as crude prices
<CLc1> regained ground above $66 a barrel after a 4 percent drop
in the previous session. BG Group <BG.L>, BP <BP.L>, Cairn
Energy <CNE.L>, Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> rose 0.4-1.6 percent.
Leaders of the Group of 20 major industrialised and
developing countries pledged to keep emergency economic supports
running until a durable recovery was secured, and work together
when the time comes to remove them. []
This helped remove anxiety that a removal of government
stimulus would snuff out the nascent recovery which has helped
lift the FTSE 100 48 percent since a six-year trough in March.
"There is a pledge to keep the stimulus in place until we
really see signs of recovery. That does help the market as all
markets have been slightly rattled of late by the noises that
the U.S. Fed have been making," said David Morrison, market
strategist at GFT Global.
Weakness in the dollar is helping drive risk appetite for
equities, while investors also look to a positive open on Wall
Street for direction, he said.
"To see the market above the 5,100 level is broadly bullish
but we need to see it close above that for traders to think
about it as being significant," he said.
Drugmakers were boosted by a 0.7 percent gain in
GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L> which rose after European healthcare
regulators recommended the company's H1N1 swine flu vaccine for
approval. []
AstraZeneca <AZN.L> and Shire <SHP.L> were up 0.3 percent
and 0.9 percent respectively.
Miners were broadly higher, lifted by higher metals prices
which benefited as the dollar weakened on the G20 comments.
Anglo American <AAL.L>, BHP Billiton <BLT.L>, Lonmin <LMI.L>
and Xstrata <XTA.L> rose 0.2-1.5 percent.
On the downside, Eurasian Natural Resources <ENRC.L> slipped
2.6 percent, after Central African Mining & Exploration (CAMEC),
<CFM.L> which has accepted a $955 million takeover from ENRC,
swung to a full-year loss of $343 million. []
Oil services firm in Petrofac <PFC.L> lost 2.7 percent after
broker downgrades by Banc of America-Merrill Lynch and Goldman
Sachs on a bearish outlook for the oil support services sector.
BANKS MIXED
Lloyds Banking Group <LLOY.L> came under pressure, falling
2.3 percent as analysts cited the need for possible capital
raising.
"There's a lot of noise on rights issues to come ... and
we're in a logical phase of consolidation after the very
material gains since March," said Jonathan Lawlor head of
European research at Fox-Pitt, Kelton.
Barclays <BARC.L> and Standard Chartered <STAN.L> fell 1 and
0.7 percent respectively, while HSBC gained 1.2 percent after
the lender was seen increasingly focusing on emerging markets.
[]. Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L> was up 0.3
percent.
Defensive tobacco firms were also lower as appetite for
riskier assets rose. British American Tobacco <BATS.L> and
Imperial Tobacco <IMT.L> shedding 0.3 percent and 0.2 percent
respectively.
U.S. futures <SPc1> pointed to a slightly higher open on
Wall Street. Investors will keep an eye on data from across the
Atlantic for further signs of the health of the U.S economy.
August durable good orders were due at 1230 GMT, the final
September reading for the University of Michigan consumer
sentiment index will be in focus at 1355 GMT and August new home
sales will be eyed shortly after.
(Editing by Dan Lalor)
