FTSE hits 14-month closing high

By Tricia Wright

LONDON (Reuters) - The FTSE 100 .FTSE hit its highest closing level in more than 14 months on Monday as a weaker dollar sparked a rally in metals prices and some upbeat U.S. data lifted market sentiment.

The top share index ended up 86.29 points, or 1.6 percent, at 5,382.67, its highest close since September 2008 and notching up its fourth consecutive session of gains.

The index is only 0.6 percent below its level before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in mid-September 2008 and has surged 55.5 percent from a six-year low in March.

Miners buoyed by metal price advances spearheaded a broad-based rally with gold hitting a record high near $1,135 an ounce.

Antofagasta (ANTO.L), Xstrata (XTA.L), Rio Tinto (RIO.L) and Randgold Resources (RRS.L) added 4.8 to 7.8 percent.

Lonmin (LMI.L) topped the blue-chip leader board, adding 9.3 percent, as the world's third-biggest platinum producer said it planned to boost output by a fifth by 2013 as prices climb on shortages.

"After struggling in recent weeks, the major indices today seem to have signalled that the eight-month recovery for share prices is not over and has spurred traders to get their buying hats back on," said Tim Hughes, head of sales trading at IG Index.

"After the strong gains seen today, there is scope for at least a slight pullback in the days ahead, but for now it looks likely this will be treated as an opportunity to buy into any dips on the belief that momentum really has returned."

The index was given a fillip by data from across the Atlantic. U.S. retail sales were up 1.4 percent in October, a welcome sign heading into the holiday season, though a separate report showed manufacturing in New York State fell this month.

ENERGY BOOST

Energy firms were big winners, underpinned by a 3.4 percent rise in crude prices. BG Group (BG.L), BP (BP.L) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) rose 1.2 to 2.4 percent.

BP (BP.L) said on Monday it found oil at its appraisal well in Kaskida field in the Gulf of Mexico.

Banking stocks were led higher by a 2.6 percent rise in heavyweight HSBC (HSBA.L), which added to gains from last week when it released a strong third-quarter update.

Barclays (BARC.L) and Standard Chartered (STAN.L) were up 1.3 percent and 1.5 percent respectively.

A government source said the British government would this week outline legislation allowing consumers to group together to claim damages from financial institutions that mislead customers over financial products.