Miners drive FTSE higher, Barratt soars
* FTSE 100 gains 0.64 pct
* Miners rally as gold advances; M&A in focus
* Barratt Developments soars 25 pct, Polaris raises stake
By Patrizia Kokot
LONDON, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Britain's leading share index rose in midday trade on Monday, driven higher by miners and heavyweight oil stocks as commodity prices rebounded.
Housebuilders grabbed the spotlight after traders said Polaris Capital Management raised its stake in Barratt Developments (BDEV.L), which jumped more than 25 percent.
Barratt Developments said in a statement Polaris had reached a threshold of a 6 percent stake and declined to comment further.
By 1044 GMT, the FTSE 100 .FTSE was up 35.4 points, or 0.64 percent, at 5,524.1 points, adding to a 2.5 percent gain in the previous week.
Oil heavyweights BP (BP.L) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) rose 1.4 and 1.8 percent respectively on the back of a modest recovery in crude prices CLc1 as fighting between Russia and Georgia disrupted some exports from the Caspian region.
The release of UK producer price inflation data for July also gave some support. Official data showed that British manufacturers' costs unexpectedly fell at their sharpest pace in 1-1/2 years in July.
An advance in gold XAU= spurred on the mining sector, which added 10 points to the index.
Eurasian Natural Resources Corp (ENRC.L) fell 6.2 percent after copper producer Kazakhmys (KAZ.L) said it increased its stake in the group to a blocking majority of 25 percent but it had no intention to bid for now. Kazakhmys gained 1.7 percent.
Xstrata (XTA.L) added 1.5 percent after the Sunday Telegraph said the miner was planning to raise more than 5 billion pounds to forge ahead with its $10 billion hostile takeover bid for South African platinum producer Lonmin (LMI.L).
The bidding price of 3,300 pence a share was however below the Lonmin share price, which was around 3,400 pence. Lonmin was down 0.5 percent.
Smaller FTSE 250-listed peer Aquarius Platinum (AQP.L) rallied 5 percent after UBS raised its stance on the group to "buy" from "neutral". Continued...
