FTSE flat; energy gains offset miner, bank falls

* Energy stocks gain, shrug off oil price slide

* Miners weaker, tracking weaker metals * Banks weaker, but insurers up on Friends Prov M&A talk

By Simon Falush

LONDON, July 13 (Reuters) - Gains in energy stocks, shrugging off a retreat in oil prices, offset weakness in banks and miners to leave Britain's top share index flat in early trade on Monday.

By 0801 GMT the FTSE 100 .FTSE was 1.41 points higher at 4,128.58 after it lost 31.49 points to close at 4,127.17 on Friday, its lowest close since April 28.

The blue-chip index has fallen 6.7 percent this year but is up 19.3 percent since touching a six-year low in March.

Miners were on the back foot as metal prices continued to soften as confidence on the demand outlook for raw materials crumbled.

Rio Tinto (RIO.L), Kazakhmys (KAZ.L), Lonmin (LMI.L) and BHP Billiton (BLT.L) fell between 0.2 and 1.6 percent.

Xstrata was the biggest faller, down 4.8 percent, after it said on Sunday it remains committed to a nil-premium merger with Anglo American after the Observer newspaper said it will offer a 5 billion pounds ($8.05 billion) sweetener to seal the deal. [ID:nLC011937]

Anglo American (AAL.L) added 0.3 percent.

"We have been stuck in a relatively tight range as there's a sense that the recovery might not be as soon or as strong as had been hoped," said Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown.

Energy stocks managed to shrug off the retreat in the price of crude which languished at a seven-week low CLc1, recovering a little of the ground given up last week.

BP (BP.L), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), BG Group (BG.L) and Tullow Oil (TLW.L) all gained 0.6 percent.

Banks, whose performance is closely correlated to risk appetite, fell.

Barclays (BARC.L), HSBC (HSBA.L), Standard Chartered (STAN.L), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) and Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) lost between 0.7 and 3.4 percent.