* FTSE 100 up 0.3 pct
* Shire gains after China nod to Takeda deal
* Housebuilders in focus
* Investec rallies on spin-off plans(Adds closing)
By Danilo Masoni
MILAN, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index trackedhigher European markets on Friday with the mood buoyed by easingtrade worries, while Shire rose after China cleared Takeda'splans to buy the drugmaker.
The FTSE 100 ended up 0.3 percent, underpinned bygains among industrials and materials sectors, which more thanoffset weakness among utilities, hit earlier this week by aprofit warning from SSE.
"Traders (are) hopeful about U.S.-China trade talks despitePresident Trump being the fly in the ointment, downplayingprospects for quick negotiations," Accendo Markets analayst Mikevan Dulken said.
President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the UnitedStates was under no pressure to make a trade deal with China,even as Chinese officials welcomed an invitation from Washingtonfor a new round of talks with more U.S. tariffs looming.
After the European close, however, markets were unnervedafter a Bloomberg report said Trump had asked aides to proceedwith tariffs on $200 billion more in Chinese goods.
The FTSE scored a small weekly gain following twoconsecutive weeks of losses partly due to a rally in the poundon prospects of a Brexit deal with the European Union.
On Friday, the pound slipped after touching its highestlevel since early August. The index, whose constituents makemore than two-thirds of their sales abroad, remains down around5 percent so far in 2018.
Shire rose 2.2 percent.
Takeda Pharmaceutical said China approved itspurchase of Shire, the latest regulator to clear the $62 billiondeal and bring the Japanese group closer to becoming a globaltop 10 drugmaker.
Taked expects the deal to close in the first half of 2019although it needs shareholder approval to raise the funds to payfor the $62 billion deal.
British housebuilders Barrat Developments andTaylor Wimpey came under pressure after Bank of Englandgovernor Mark Carney was reported in the Times as having toldministers that a no-deal Brexit could cause house prices to fallby 35 percent over three years.
Their stocks recovered ground to end up 0.6 and 0.1 percentrespectively after Carney clarified that the bank's "stresstest" scenarios in which house prices fell sharply did notamount to a prediction from the BoE.
Mid-cap Investec rose 8.4 percent on news it plansto hive off and separately list its asset management unit in arestructuring that comes as the long-serving company founderleaves the financial services group.
"Investec's plan to spin off its asset management arm lookslike a sensible decision as it should allow management morefreedom to drive that business forward and not be constrained byhaving to follow the strategy of the current parent which ispredominantly a specialist banking business," said Russ Mould,investment director at AJ Bell.
JD Wetherspoon declined 1.3 percent after the pubchain said it expected higher costs this year even though arecord heatwave that brought in more customers lifted itsfull-year profit.(Reporting by Danilo Masoni;Editing by Alison Williams)
