Britain's FTSE led higher by miners, financials

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* FTSE 100 up 0.7 pct

* Cyclicals lead gains

* Upgrade supports Barrat

By Kit Rees

LONDON, June 1 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index rose onFriday as shares in cyclical stocks such as miners andfinancials rallied, joining in broader gains for European stocksas relief over Italy's political crisis lifted risky assets.

The blue chip FTSE 100 index gained 0.7 percent,while mid caps also advanced 0.6 percent.

The end of May was marred by turmoil in Italian politics,which appeared to have found a resolution after the country'santi-establishment parties revived a coalition deal, removingthe risk of a new election.

British blue chips managed to escape the wider marketsell-off relatively unscathed, posting a gain of 2.2 percent inMay, the best-performing European market thanks to its heavyweighting in large, international stocks such as miners and oilmajors.

On the day, a rise in shares of banks Barclays,HSBC and Lloyds saw financials contribute thebiggest boost to the FTSE. Banking stocks have been caught up ina broad sector sell-off led by Italian lenders.

Mining stocks were also higher, with shares in Glencore, Rio Tinto and Anglo American up 1.7percent to 3 percent, while oil majors BP and Royal DutchShell gained 0.4 percent and 1 percent respectively ascrude oil prices clawed back losses.

Housebuilder Barratt Developments was supported byan upgrade to "overweight" from JPMorgan, sending its shares 2.9percent higher, with JPM's analysts saying that differences inearnings momentum between the large cap housebuilders haveresulted in a divergence in stock price performance.

"Barratt has underperformed heavily over the last year, onearnings risk concerns that we think will prove unfounded – ifanything, we see upside risk to FY19 estimates," said JPMorgan'sanalysts in a note.

Data showing growth among UK manufacturers picked up speedin May had little impact. The improvement however maskedunderlying weakness among the country's factories.(Reporting by Kit Rees and Danilo MasoniEditing by Alison Williams)