UK and China data boost FTSE to 13-month high
* Unemployment and claimant count better than expected
* Miners rally; metal prices up on Chinese data
* Sainsbury and International Power rise on firm results
By David Brett
LONDON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 touched a 13-month high on Wednesday as miners led a broad-based rally, lifted by data showing a surge in China's factory output which pushed up metal prices.
By 1148 GMT the blue-chip index .FTSE was 61.38 points higher at 5291.93, just off a high of 5,300.28, a peak since late September 2008, touched earlier in the session. It closed 0.1 percent lower on Tuesday, ending a four-session winning run.
Data from China, where factory output jumped to a 19-month high in October, underpinned a mining sector rally.
Randgold Resources (RRS.L) climbed 5.9 percent, bouncing back from a dip following Tuesday's announcement of lower-than-expected quarterly profit to an all-time high as the gold XAU= price rallied.
Rio Tinto (RIO.L), Xstrata (XTA.L), Lonmin (LMI.L), Anglo American (AAL.L), Kazakhmys (KAZ.L) and Fresnillo (FRES.L) gained 3.6-4.6 percent.
Hopes of an economic recovery in the UK were boosted as the number of unemployed and those claiming jobless benefits in Britain rose less than expected in October. [ID:nLB152848]
"The figures make for at least relatively cheerful reading," said Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec.
"On the face of it, it would suggest that there is a process of a stabilisation in the labour market which is in train, which in turn implies some sort of recovery in the economy," he said.
Banks were also in demand as investor risk appetite returned, with HSBC (HSBA.L) up 1.6 percent, extending Tuesday's gain following it third-quarter update, while Barclays (BARC.L) recovered 0.5 percent of the previous session's sell-off.
Standard Chartered (STAN.L) and Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) were 1.4 and 1.1 percent higher respectively while state-backed Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) fell 1.5 percent.
