* FTSE up 1 percent as Egypt woes ease
* Miners and energy stocks rally along with commodities
* Travel firms lower on Egypt uncertainty
By David Brett
LONDON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Commodity stocks led Britain's top
share index higher on Tuesday as concerns over the impact of
political unrest in Egypt ebbed, with the market supported by
technology stocks after ARM reported robust results.
By 1159 GMT the FTSE 100 <> was 57.08 points, or 1
percent, higher at 5,920.02. The index had shed 1.7 percent over
the previous two days as protesters in Egypt pressed their
campaign to topple President Hosni Mubarak.
"The FTSE does seem to be fairly range-bound with resistance
and resilience at the 6,000 level. The geopolitical situation is
going to hold the markets back and volatility will come," Martin
Dobson, head of trading at Westhouse Securities, said.
"Equities are still in vogue though, especially with
commodity prices rising, and investors are seeing any weakness
as a reason to buy."
Miners <.FTNMX1770> rallied as gold <XAU=> bounced higher
and copper <CMCU3> and tin hit record highs, with copper miner
Antofagasta <ANTO.L> up 5 percent.
Mid-cap miner Centamin Egypt <CEY.L> climbed 5.7 percent
after reporting record quarterly gold production and saying
operations were unaffected by issues in Egypt. []
Energy stocks <.FTNMX0530> were mostly higher reflecting the
improved sentiment. BP <BP.L> bucked the trend, down 1.1 percent
as a lag in fourth-quarter profit took the shine off the
reinstatement of its dividend. []
The oil major said it was watching Egypt carefully, while
the head of the International Energy Agency said the global oil
market does not face any emergency as Brent crude <LCOc1> pushed
beyond $100. []
RESULTS LIFT
Technology stocks were hot picks among investors, with
Autonomy <AUTN.L> up 6.6 percent after the enterprise search
software maker reported fourth-quarter results which analysts
said should provide near-term support for the shares.
ARM Holdings <ARM.L> rose 3.0 percent after the chip
designer echoed sentiment from German peer Infineon, saying it
expected semiconductor demand to remain robust after a strong
quarter.
Elsewhere, Ocado <OCDO.L> added 7.6 percent after the
British online grocer announced its first quarterly pretax
profit.
Banks <.FTNMX8350> bounced as risk appetite returned among
investors, with Standard Chartered <STAN.L> up 2.0 percent,
helped by Exane BNP Paribas upgrading its rating to "outperform"
from "underperform".
Data from the United States and China helped bolster
investor conviction. [] []
British mortgage approvals for house purchases fell more
than expected in December. []
Weakness remained in travel-related firms as governments,
airlines and tour operators worked together on Monday to fly
their nationals out of Egypt.
Blue-chip companies Intercontinental Hotels <IHG.L> and TUI
Travel <TT.L> shed 1.1 percent and 0.5 percent respectively,
while mid-cap firm Thomas Cook <TCG.L> dropped 2.1 percent.
Wall Street futures pointed to a higher open on Tuesday,
extending the previous session's gains, and ahead of January's
U.S. ISM manufacturing report and December construction spending
data due at 1500 GMT.
(Editing by Dan Lalor)
