Britain's FTSE index edges higher on stronger miners

(ADVISORY- Reuters plans to replace intra-day European and UKstock market reports with a Live Markets blog on Eikon - see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets for site in development. See the bottom of the report for moredetails)

* Blue-chip FTSE 100 index up 0.2 percent

* Miners track stronger metals prices

* Lonmin shares surge after results

By Kit Rees

LONDON, May 16 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index edgedhigher on Monday, with a rally in basic resources stocks on theback of stronger metals prices supporting the broader equitiesmarket.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was up 0.2 percent at6,152.42 points by 1503 GMT after gaining in the previoussession. However, the benchmark index is still down about 1.5percent so far this year.

The UK mining index rose 2.4 percent aftermetals prices rose following a softer dollar and data showing animprovement in China's property sector, offsetting severalsofter gauges of the country's economy that had raised concernsover the demand prospects for industrial metals.

"Miners are rallying on stronger metals prices and brokerstoo are generally turning somewhat positive," Jawaid Afsar,senior trader at Securequity, said.

"A weaker dollar could support the market further, but afurther strong rally in the near term seems challenging giventhe pace of economic growth in top metals consumer China."

Anglo American surged 6 percent after a doubleupgrade from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which raised itstarget price and its rating on the stock to "buy" from"underperform". Shares in Antofagasta, Glencore and BHP Billiton were up 2.5 to 3.7 percent.

Among small caps, miner Lonmin surged nearly 19percent after reporting a first-half core profit of $36 million,up from a loss of $6 million the same time a year ago followingcost savings.

"Lonmin's results continue to provide fuel for the idea thatthe mining sector is past the worst, even if much of theimprovement has come from cost-cutting, with platinum prices sofar stubbornly refusing to respond," Chris Beauchamp, seniormarket analyst at IG, said.

On the downside, property developer British Land fell 1 percent after reporting results. While the company posteda rise in its full-year portfolio value, investors voicedconcerns about the impact on the sector of Britain's June 23referendum on whether to leave the EU.

"Despite a positive overall outlook, the group cites recentslowdown in office occupational demand, likely due to the EUreferendum, as well as weaker consumer confidence and retailsales since the beginning of the year," analysts at Liberum saidin a note.

"This is the first sign of occupational weakness in thesector and we would expect it to weigh on the shares."

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Mike Dolan, Markets Editor EMEA. (Additional reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Gareth Jones)