* FTSE 100 up 0.7 pct at midday
* Oils, miners provide strength on commodity price rises
* Banks, property issues rally helped by Bolton comments
By Jon Hopkins
LONDON, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Britain's leading share index was
up 0.7 percent at midday supported by gains in commodity issues
and expectations for opening gains on Wall street on hopes of a
government lifeline for the struggling U.S. auto industry.
By 1146 GMT, the FTSE 100 <> was up 31.90 points, or
0.7 percent at 4,312.25, below an earlier peak of 4,340.70.
The UK blue chip index gained 5.7 percent last week but is
still down nearly 33 percent for the year.
"There is not a lot going on today," said Richard Hunter,
head of UK equities at broker Hargreaves Landsdowne, "with
investors having a raft of economic data to look ahead to later
this week, notably UK inflation numbers".
"There is also a bit of a drag from the Madoff situation,"
Hunter added, referring to Wall Street trader Bernard Madoff's
alleged $50 billion fraud, "which has taken a bit of the glean
off the market."
Energy stocks rose along with firmer crude prices <CLc1>, up
over $2 a barrel ahead of this week's OPEC meeting, with the
cartel widely expected to sanction production cuts.
BP <BP.L> advanced 1.9 percent, Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L>
put on 1.6 percent, BG Group <BG.L> climbed 3.7 percent, Cairn
Energy <CNE.L> added 5.1 percent.
Stronger metal prices also boosted heavyweight miners, with
Eurasian Natural Resources <ENRC.L>, Xstrata <XTA.L>, Kazakhmys
<KAZ.L>, Rio Tinto <RIO.L> and BHP Billiton <BLT.L> up between
3.3 and 5.5 percent.
Rio described as speculation a newspaper report claiming it
was talking to banking advisers about a potential $9 billion
rights issue in the first half of next year. []
U.S stocks were expected to open lower Monday after strong
gains Friday on hopes for a rescue deal for the auto industry.
BANKS, PROPERTY RALLY
Banks and property stocks rallied. Fidelity International's
Anthony Bolton told investors in an interview in the Sunday
Times to prepare for an equities market rally led by banking and
property shares in early 2009.
HBOS <HBOS.L>, Barclays <BARC.L>, Royal Bank of Scotland
<RBS.L>, Lloyds TSB <LLOY.L> and Standard Chartered <STAN.L> all
put on 1.4 to 12.4 percent.
HSBC <HSBA.L>, however, shed 2.5 percent after the Financial
Times reported that HSBC had emerged as one of the largest
victims of the alleged Madoff fraud, with potential exposure of
about $1 billion.
HSBC could not immediately be reached for comment.
British Land <BLND.L> up 4.9 percent, Hammerson <HMSO.L>
ahead 4.5 percent, Land Securities <LAND.L> up 2.3 percent, and
Liberty international <LII.L> ahead 4.1 percent.
The Daily Telegraph said Liberty was examining fundraising
options including a rights issue to bolster its balance sheet.
The economic picture in the UK remained grim. A survey by
property Web site Rightmove said asking prices for homes in
Britain fell in December to stand more than 10 percent below
May's peak. []
The chief executive of Barclays also said UK house prices
were likely to fall between 10 to 15 percent next year and the
unemployment rate may top 7 percent. []
( Editing by Hans Peters)
