* House price, consumer confidence data boost sentiment
* Banks rally after Thursday's fall
* Crude oil, metals prices firm
By Catherine Bosley
LONDON, May 29 (Reuters) - London's benchmark share index
was 1.1 percent higher by midday on Friday after two pieces of
British economic data added to rising investor optimism and
whetted appetite for oils, miners and banks.
By 1031 GMT, the FTSE 100 <> was up 48.64 points at
4,436.18 after falling 0.7 percent on Thursday, when it was hit
by weaker banks as worries over their financial health returned.
The UK blue-chip index has rallied 29 percent since the
year's low on March 9. Friday's gains were in tandem with MSCI's
all-country world stock index, which was just shy of its 2009
peak.
"There's been a rotation into risk," said Andrew Bell,
strategist at Rensburg Sheppards Investment Management in
London.
"We appear to have reached a point ... that people are
buying the dips. Six months ago ... the more they sell, the more
they sell. Now, if you see a couple of dull days, people think
'well, this probably is a sensible point to be putting a little
more of our money to work.'"
With U.S. crude <CLc1> rising above $65.50 per barrel, on
track for its largest monthly gain in more than a decade, oil
majors constituted the FTSE's top gainers, adding 14 points to
the index.
Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> rose 1.5 percent, BP <BP.L> rose
0.6 percent, and BG Group <BG.L> jumped 3.6 percent.
Thanks to higher metals prices, heavyweight miners also
rose, with Rio Tinto <RIO.L>, BHP Billiton <BLT.L>, Anglo
American <AAL.L>, and Xstrata <XTA.L> rising between 3.9
percent and 6.2 percent.
The world's third largest platinum producer Lonmin <LMI.L>
rose 5.8 percent, the index's top gainer.
Sterling hit its highest level against the dollar since
early November, but the pound's rally failed to curb equities.
[]
"I don't think it's enough to put people off buying UK
assets per se because they're still quite lowly rated compared
to where they've been historically," Bell said.
U.S stock futures <DJc1> <SPc1> indicated Wall Street would
be opening higher.
BANKS GAIN
Banks <.FTNMX8350>, which were Thursday's top losers,
reversed course to climb 2.2 percent as the previous day's
investor pessimism about the outlook for the financial sector
subsided.
Investors sold bank shares the previous session after the
yield on 10-year U.S. Treasuries rose, raising concerns that
high borrowing costs could stunt the global economic recovery.
"People are beginning to think 'this is the turning point',"
Bell said. "(But) the risks haven't gone away. There's obviously
the chance of stock-specific accidents from the banking sector."
He added that General Motors' <GM.N> troubles could have
spillover effects and damage risk appetite.
Barclays <BARC.L>, HSBC <HSBA.L>, Lloyds Banking Group
<LLOY.L>, Standard Chartered <STAN.L> and Royal Bank of Scotland
<RBS.L> rose between 1.4 and 2.5 percent.
Sentiment was boosted by Nationwide's house price survey,
which showed British house prices rose 1.2 percent in May, the
second time in three months, slowing the annual rate of decline
to its lowest since August. []
Data also showed British consumer confidence held steady in
May as rising gloom over the economy was offset by an
improvement in Britons' expectations for their own finances.
British house builders rose after the Nationwide house price
data, with Taylor Wimpey <TW.L> up 6 percent and Persimmon up
5.4 percent.
(Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
