* Banks higher after JPMorgan results
* Oils, miners rebound with commodity prices
* Vodafone up, Pearson down after broker comment
By Jon Hopkins
LONDON, April 16 (Reuters) - Britain's leading share index
was 1 percent higher at midday on Thursday, fuelled by gains
from banks as results from JP Morgan Chase & Co <JPM.N> were
eyed, and by strength in commodity issues.
By 1109 GMT, the FTSE 100 <> index was 39.59 points
higher at 4,007.99, having spent the morning session oscillating
around the 4,000 level.
The UK benchmark index closed 20.59 points, or 0.5 percent,
lower on Wednesday and is down 10.5 percent so far this year,
after dropping over 31 percent last year.
"Whilst the FTSE is having a decent day so far, of late
we've seen moves easily unwound as sentiment just changes. It's
a very fickle sentiment on the market as a whole so I think
we're definitely watching for (the impact of) those JP Morgan
figures," said Tim Hughes, head of trading at IG Index.
Banks were the main gainers in London as investors chewed
over first-quarter results from peer JPMorgan.
The U.S. bank's first quarter numbers looked to have beaten
estimates but U.S. stock futures <> <.SPc1> fell back after
the earnings release, with Wednesday's strong gains on Wall
Street likely to be reversed.
Lloyds Banking Group <LLOY.L> remained the top FTSE 100
gainer, up 7.7 percent, while Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L>,
Barclays <BARC.L> and HSBC <HSBA.L> added between 0.8 and 5.1
percent, respectively.
Banks drew heart from Wednesday's signs that the recession
was abating in the United States as the Federal Reserve's Beige
Book showed the speed of the contraction in the economy was
fading.
Oil majors also provided a strong boost to the blue chips as
crude prices <CLc1> moved back up towards the $50 a barrel
level, with BP <BP.L>, Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> and BG Group
<BG.L> up between 1.0 and 1.3 percent.
BP holds its annual general meeting on Wednesday.
Miners stood out as well, higher as copper prices rallied,
although China GDP data took some of the shine off the metal's
rise.
China's economy slowed in the first quarter to its weakest
pace on record, but an improvement in data for March offered
tentative signs that the worst may be over for the world's
third-largest economy.
Xstrata <XTA.L>, Kazakhmys <KAZ.L>, Vedanta Resources
<VED.L>, Rio Tinto <RIO.L> and BHP Billiton <BLT.L> gained
between 1.1 percent and 3.6 percent.
BROKER COMMENT MIXED
Mobile telecoms heavyweight Vodafone <VOD.L> added 1.5
percent helped by an upgrade from Bernstein to "outperform" from
"market perform".
Insurer Old Mutual <OML.L>, however, shed 1.9 percent after
UBS cut its rating to "neutral" from "buy", while peer Friends
Provident <FP.L> fell 1.5 percent as Deutsche Bank cut its
rating to "hold" in a European sector review.
Pearson <PSON.L> lost 2.1 percent as Exane-BNP Paribas cut
its rating to "neutral" in a media sector review.
Packaging firm Bunzl <BNZL.L> was the biggest blue-chip
faller, down 10.4 percent after a trading update said its
underlying sales fell marginally in the first quarter.
Credit checking firm Experian <EXPN.L> also fell back after
a slightly cautious trading update, down 2.6 percent, with the
group saying the environment for lending has not improved.
There were more signs that the UK economy is still facing
fierce headwinds. British like-for-like retail sales fell
year-on-year for the second month running in March, the British
Retail Consortium said.
"It's very much a dog-eat-dog world out there for retailers
at the moment. Trading conditions are immensely tough, but those
who find the balance between discounting stock and keeping
sufficient margins will be the ones that survive and eventually
prosper," said Rob Pike, head of trading at ShortsandLongs.com.
(Additional reporting by Paul Lauener; editing by Simon
Jessop)
