* FTSE 100 up 0.8 pct; gains for fifth-straight session
* Miners rise on firmer metals prices
By Tricia Wright
LONDON, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Strength in mining stocks helped
Britain's top share index recover on Tuesday to levels not seen
since before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008,
though banks were weak.
At 1208 GMT, the FTSE 100 <> was 40.44 points, or 0.8
percent, higher at 5,442.85, gaining for a fifth straight
session, with trading volumes extremely light as traders began
returning to work after the festive break.
The blue-chip index ended up 30.03 points or 0.6 percent on
its last previous trading session on Dec. 24, with gains that
week at almost 4 percent.
"The States and Asia have done pretty well on their normal
weekend if you like, and I think that London's just getting up
to speed again," said Tim Hughes, head of sales trading at IG
Index.
Miners, buoyed by firmer metals prices, added the most
points to the index, with Vedanta Resources <VED.L>, Lonmin
<LMI.L>, Xstrata <XTA.L> and BHP Billiton <BLT.L> among the
biggest FTSE 100 risers, putting on 2 to 3.2 percent.
Kazakhmys <KAZ.L> put on 2.5 percent. The Kazakh copper
producer has secured a bigger-than-expected $2.7 billion loan
from China in a sign of strengthening ties between the two
countries, the head of Kazakhstan's state welfare fund said.
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The UK benchmark has rallied about 57 percent since hitting
a six-year trough in March and is up about 23 percent for the
year, on track for its biggest yearly gain since 1997.
Real estate stocks also featured on the blue chip leaders
board as bargain hunters homed in on a sector seen by analysts
as among the most undervalued.
Britain's largest shopping mall owner Liberty International
<LII.L> was the biggest FTSE 100 riser, up 3.7 percent, as
people crammed the stores, lured by post-Christmas sales.
Segro <SGRO.L>, British Land <BLND.L> and Hammerson <HMSO.L>
put on 2.4 to 3.2 percent.
Banks proved the biggest sectoral drag on the FTSE 100,
retreating after notching up sharp gains before the holiday
period, with heavyweight HSBC <HSBA.L> off 0.5 percent and
Barclays <BARC.L> down 0.4 percent.
Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L>, however, rose 1.3 percent,
while Lloyds Banking Group <LLOY.L> and Standard Chartered
<STAN.L> both added 0.4 percent.
A Financial Times analysis of official market data has
revealed that the last 10 years have seen the lowest rate of
economic growth in Britain in the post-war period, and the worst
set of returns for investors on the stock market since the Great
Depression.
The analysis, drawn from data supplied by the Office for
National Statistics, showed that in real terms GDP rose on
average by 1.7 percent annually over the decade, which
represents the worst economic expansion since the 1940s.
Among individual fallers, British Airways <BAY.L> dropped
0.9 percent, dented by concerns about increased airport security
as a result of an attempted terrorist attack on a U.S. Northwest
Airlines flight over the Christmas period, and with another
strike vote looming by BA's cabin staff.
Investors will watch for the U.S. Case Shiller house price
survey due for release at 1400 GMT and U.S. consumer confidence
data released at 1500 GMT.
(Additional reporting by Simon Falush; Editing by Jon
Loades-Carter)
