* FTSE 100 ends flat
* Housing stocks rally
* Energy shares, miners weak (Recasts, adds detail and updates prices at close)
By Kit Rees and Atul Prakash
LONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index steadiedon Wednesday, underperforming European peers, as a drop inenergy stock prices prompted by oil price weakness offset arally led by housing stocks.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed flat inpercentage terms at 7,188.82 points, after ending marginallyhigher in the previous session. In contrast, the pan-EuropeanSTOXX 600 index was up 0.3 percent higher in a choppysession.
Britain's mid cap index, however, ended at a freshrecord closing level, up 0.3 percent. Housebuilder Redrow was among the biggest gainers on the FTSE 250, up 4percent after posting a rise in first half profit.
"We have had a BUY recommendation on (Redrow) for a whileand we stick with that both for absolute potential gain and alsoas part of our wider view that the midcap house builders offermuch better value than the larger caps," Robin Hardy, analyst atShore Capital Markets, said in a note.
Blue chip peers Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey andBarratt Developments were also among the biggest riserson the FTSE 100, all up between 2.3 percent to 3 percent.
However, commodity-linked stocks fell. After rallyingearlier in the session, Rio Tinto ended 1.7 percentlower, though the world's No. 2 iron ore miner beat profitforecasts on the back of cost-cutting and a strong recovery iniron ore prices and said it would pay a bigger-than-expectedannual dividend.
"Mining companies are price-takers and have no control overcommodity markets, but Rio has made ground by cutting cash costsand scaling back the dividend," Hargreaves Lansdown analystLaith Khalaf said.
Rio shares have more than doubled since early 2016, andanalysts cited some profit-taking on Wednesday after Rio'sshares touched their highest level in four years earlier in themonth.
The UK mining index fell 1.6 percent, with BHPBilliton and Glencore dropping 3.4 percent and1.8 percent respectively.
Gains were also negated by weaker energy stocks. The UK oiland gas index fell 1.3 percent after oil pricesextended Tuesday's falls earlier in the session following amassive increase in U.S. fuel inventories and a slump in Chinesedemand.
"Energy shares have been weighed on by a surprisingly largeU.S. API oil inventory build, stoking fears that rising U.S.shale production will outweigh OPEC cuts deigned to rebalancethe global oil market," Accendo Markets analyst Henry Croftsaid.
Shares in Royal Dutch Shell and BP fell 1.5percent and 0.3 percent respectively, while mid-cap Tullow Oil was down 5.4 percent. (Reporting by Kit Rees and Atul Prakash; Editing by GarethJones)
