* Index hits 4,800 for first time since early October
* Oil producers lead risers
By Dominic Lau
LONDON, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Britain's leading share index
rose 1 percent close to midday on Friday, hitting a fresh
intraday high for the year and making tracks for a fourth
straight day of gains as heavyweight energy stocks led risers.
At 1031 GMT, the FTSE 100 <> was up 49.16 points at
4,805.74, trading above 4,800 for the first time since early
October.
The UK benchmark has advanced 2 percent so far this week,
and is up 8.4 percent this year after rallying 39 percent since
hitting a floor in early March.
"There is a lot of confidence that large-cap stocks ... are
going to be able to generate profit (on) ... demand coming from
stimulus programmes, and rising consumer demand that you are
beginning to see from China and India," said Stephen Pope, chief
global market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald.
"What you are seeing here is confirmation that any time
since March, any selling has purely been people taking profit.
They will come back to take up the slack and pick up more
stocks. There is no return to March 9 lows."
Oil producers were firmer as crude prices <CLc1> rose above
$73 a barrel, extending a recent strong run after data this week
showed a surprise drawdown in U.S. inventories.
BP <BP.L>, Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L>, BG Group <BG.L> and
Cairn Energy <CNE.L> added 1.4-2 percent.
Miners Fresnillo <FRES.L>, Lonmin <LMI.L>, Vedanta Resources
<VED.L>, Xstrata <XTA.L>, Rio Tinto <RIO.L> and Anglo American
<AAL.L> put on 1-1.9 percent.
INSURERS, BANKS HIGH
Legal & General <LGEN.L> climbed 4.6 percent. Goldman Sachs
reiterated its "conviction buy" on the life insurer in a sector
review.
Peers Aviva <AV.L>, Old Mutual <OML.L> and Standard Life
<SL.L> were up 2.1-3.2 percent.
Banks also rose, with Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L>, Lloyds
Banking Group <LLOY.L> and Standard Chartered <STAN.L> up 1-1.6
percent. Barclays <BARC.L> was down 0.3 percent.
The market will keep a close eye on U.S. existing home sales
data, due at 1400 GMT. A Reuters survey of 61 economists
predicted sales of previously owned homes climbed to a
seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5 million in July, the
briskest pace since 5.1 million units were sold in September and
up from 4.89 million units in June.
Investors will also look for more insight from U.S. Federal
Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech later in the day on the
outlook for the world's largest economy.
Drugmakers, which have lagged behind the broader market
rally with only a 25 percent gain since March, were also in
demand. GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L>, AstraZeneca <AZN.L> and Shire
<SHP.L> rose about 1.3 percent.
Software firm Sage <SGE.L>, however, lost 0.8 percent after
U.S. peer Intuit <INTU.O> forecast 2010 earnings would be below
analysts' estimates and saw tight economic conditions prevailing
for at least another year.
(editing by John Stonestreet)
