Oil majors nudge FTSE higher, drugmakers weigh

* Oil majors gain on rise in crude

* Mortgage lending data weighs

* Lloyds biggest gainer after Goldman "buy" upgrade

By Farah Master

LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - Britain's leading share index
rose 0.6 percent by midday on Monday, boosted by oil majors and
insurers, although gains were fairly slim and offset by weakness
in drugmakers, while mortgage data weighed on sentiment.

By 1021 GMT, the FTSE 100 .FTSE was up 23.37 points at
4,264.38, after falling 0.3 percent on Friday.

The index has gained over 20 percent since touching a
six-year low in March, but is still down 4.2 percent for the
year.

"It's very boring, volumes are still really low. Looking
ahead to U.S. markets there is nothing major on the calendar so
today we are in for a very quiet day for UK markets," said David
Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index.

Data showed UK mortgage lending rose by its lowest amount on
record in May, in a sign that a housing market recovery is some
way off yet. [ID:nLT677956]

The news weighed on the index, with the FTSE retreating
slightly from more substantial gains earlier in the session.

"Today's numbers are doing nothing for market sentiment. I
think maybe the reason we have seen weakness over the past few
weeks is there is a feeling that the bounce back in the stock
market has got a little bit ahead of the economic recovery,"
said Jones.

A rise in crude prices to above $69 a barrel helped lift oil
majors higher. BP (BP.L), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) and BG
Group (BG.L) up 0.7 to 1.5 percent.

INSURERS GAIN

Insurers also found support, with Legal & General (LGEN.L),
Prudential (PRU.L) and Standard Life (SL.L) up 2.2 to 3.1
percent.

Admiral Group (ADML.L) gained 3.1 percent after Credit
Suisse raised its rating to "outperform" from "neutral".

Telecommunications edged up with heavyweight Vodafone
(VOD.L) and Inmarsat (ISA.L) higher 0.5 and 0.7 percent.

News that Vodafone was considering a bid for T-mobile UK had
boosted the market heavyweight. However Deutsche Telekom
(DTEGn.DE), owner of T-Mobile said it was not about to decide
whether to sell its UK arm. [ID:nLT686454]

Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) was the biggest gainer on the
index, up 3.7 percent, lifted by a Goldman Sachs upgrade to
"buy" from "neutral" in a sector review.

Barclays (BARC.L) and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) rose
0.6 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.

Miners were mixed, with Anglo American (AAL.L) down 1.6
percent and Kazakhmys (KAZ.L) 0.2 percent lower, while BHP
Billiton (BLT.L), and Rio Tinto (RIO.L) gained between 0.2 and
0.1 percent.
Anglo American is building its defences against a 41
billion pound ($67.74 billion) potential takeover from Xstrata
(XTA.L) by planning talks about a major Chinese investment, the
Sunday Telegraph reported. [ID:nLS509625]

Among midcaps .FTMC, National Express (NEX.L) was the top
riser, up 5.5 percent. The train and bus operator has rejected
an unsolicited takeover bid from rival FirstGroup (FGP.L), the
Financial Times reported. FirstGroup (FGP.L) fell 1.4 percent.

In a sign that the recession may be easing, the annual fall
in house prices in England and Wales slowed for a third
successive month in June after rising demand outpaced the supply
of homes for sale, property data company Hometrack said.
[ID:nLQ363558]

No major U.S. data is due on Monday, so the focus will be on
Thursday's June U.S. jobs report.
(Editing by Mike Nesbit)