* Oils higher; Cairn Energy secures rig in Greenland
* Banks rally after Friday's falls
* Aggreko weak on FTSE 100 debut
By Tricia Wright
LONDON, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index was up
1.1 percent by midday on Monday in thin pre-Christmas trade,
bolstered by strength in energy stocks and a rally by banks.
At 1206 GMT, the FTSE 100 index <> was up 58.33 points
at 5,255.14, having closed 0.4 percent lower on Friday at
5,196.81. It lost 1.2 percent overall in the final full trading
week of 2009.
"There's a little bit of risk appetite, but I can't envisage
any major shifts in the equity market for the remainder of the
day, only because there is nothing in the way of economic data
due to be released," said Angus Campbell, head of sales at
Capital Spreads.
Energy stocks added the most points to the index, with crude
<CLc1> holding above $73 a barrel.
Cairn Energy <CNE.L> topped the FTSE 100 leader board,
adding 5 percent, helped by news the oil & gas explorer has
secured a rig to allow it to commence a drilling programme
offshore western Greenland.
"Cairn has delivered an early Christmas present to
shareholders by moving forward exploration drilling offshore
Greenland to 2010 from 2011," said house broker RBS.
Tullow Oil <TLW.L>, meanwhile, gained 1.9 percent after the
Financial Times reported one of its senior executives revealed
the explorer is likely to scupper Heritage Oil's <HOIL.L>
proposed 930 million pounds ($1.50 billion) sale of its Ugandan
assets to energy group ENI <EN.MI>.
Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L>, BG Group <BG.L> and BP <BP.L>
put on 1.4 to 1.8 percent.
FINANCIALS RALLY
Banks were in demand, rebounding after weakness on Friday,
with Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L>, Barclays <BARC.L>, Lloyds
Banking Group <LLOY.L>, HSBC <HSBA.L> and Standard Chartered
<STAN.L> adding between 1.1 and 2.2 percent.
It was a similar story for the life insurers, which fell the
previous session. Prudential <PRU.L>, Old Mutual <OML.L> and
Standard Life <SL.L> put on 0.9 to 1.7 percent.
Among individual stocks, Aggreko <AGGK.L> lost 1.6 percent,
topping the FTSE 100 fallers list as the temporary power
provider debuted on the blue chip index, with the stock
retreating after hitting an all-time high on Friday in response
to a bullish trading update.
On the economic news front, Britain faces a long road to
recovery and growth will be modest in 2010, but that will not
prevent the Bank of England from raising interest rates early
next year, according to the Confederation of British Industry's
latest quarterly economic forecast. []
The UK blue chip index is up about 52 percent from a
six-year low hit in March, though it is still 3 percent below
its level of mid-September 2008 before the collapse of Lehman
Brothers.
"Things kick off a little bit tomorrow with GDP numbers, but
today I expect volumes to remain very very thin, with support
around the 5,200 to remain intact," said Capital Spreads'
Campbell.
The final reading for UK third-quarter GDP is scheduled for
release on Tuesday and is expected by economists to confirm a
contraction.
(Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
