FTSE rallies for fourth day as commodities rise

(Adds Bradford & Bingley close)

By Amanda Cooper

LONDON, May 19 (Reuters) - British blue-chip shares rose on Monday for the fourth day in a row, hitting their highest close in over four months, driven by commodity stocks as crude oil held within sight of recent record highs and as positive broker comment helped miners.

Index heavyweights Royal Dutch Shell RSDa.L and BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) were up between 1.3 and 3 percent, while Cairn Energy (CNE.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Tullow Oil (TLW.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) were up between 2 and 3 percent, as crude oil held above $126 a barrel.

Miners were in demand as precious metals rallied. Large-caps BHP Billiton (BLT.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Rio Tinto (RIO.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Anglo American (AAL.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Xstrata (XTA.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) rose between 1.6 and 4 percent.

Vedanta Resources (VED.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) shot up nearly 9 percent after a rating upgrade from Citi, while Kazakhmys (KAZ.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) rose 6 percent after Credit Suisse added the stock to its Europe focus list.

"At the start of the rally back in late March, there was a lot of short covering and now you sense there is a fear among buyers thinking 'I missed out on almost 1,000 points, I need to get back in before (the index) goes up another 1,000 points'," said Jim Wood-Smith, head of research at Williams de Broe.

"A rising market builds its own momentum."

The FTSE 100 .FTSE closed up 72.2 points, or 1.15 percent at 6,376.5 points, hitting its highest closing level in just over four months. The FTSE has risen for four consecutive trading days, making this its best run since a six-day rally in mid-December.