Hikma and Barclays help Britain's FTSE to climb higher

* Blue-chip FTSE 100 index rises 0.4 percent

* Barclays up 2 pct, British American Tobacco up 2.7 pct

* Quintain Estates and Development surges 23.8 pct

By Liisa Tuhkanen

LONDON, July 29 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index rosefor a second straight session on Wednesday after recent sharpfalls, with Hikma Pharmaceuticals leading the market higher onpositive broker comments and Barclays gaining after saying itwill speed up cost cuts.

Hikma shares were the biggest blue-chip gainersafter a target price update from Jefferies, adding 3.6 percentto the an 11.6 percent jump on Tuesday, when it announced a dealto buy Boehringer Ingelheim's U.S. generic drugs business Roxanefor about $2.65 billion in cash and stock.

"The deal has created a firm foundation for future growth,"Augustin Eden, analyst at Accendo Markets, said. "Hikma sharescould be bound for a return to February highs and above - stilla healthy 8.5 percent away despite gains of yesterday."

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was up 0.4 percent at6,580.32 points by 1029 GMT, after rising 0.8 percent in theprevious session when it snapped a five-day losing streak.

Barclays shares rose 2 percent after the bank,which reported a 12 percent rise in profit, said it intended toaccelerate the sale of assets and cost cutting.

"Barclays appears eager to press ahead with the increasedpace of restructuring within the group. Most of the key metricscontinue to show improvement, with a reduction in operatingexpenses and impairments being complemented by another robustincome showing, leading to a notable hike in adjusted profits,"Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown, said.

"In addition, the capital cushion remains comfortable andthe return on equity is showing some signs of life."

British American Tobacco was up 2.7 percent afterreporting a better-than-expected performance for the secondquarter.

On the downside, Compass Group fell 4 percent afterthe world's biggest catering firm said operating profit thisyear and next would be hit by restructuring costs.

Mid-cap engineering supply group Premier Farnell fell 16 percent following comments that it expected a 10 percentdecline in first-half adjusted operating profit after salesgrowth per day in its main markets slowed in the second quarter.

Small-cap Quintain Estates and Development jumped23.8 percent on news that it is to be bought by U.S. privateequity firm Lone Star after receiving a bid valuing the firm ataround 700 million pounds ($1.1 billion).. (Additional reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by AlisonWilliams)