UK's FTSE back near record high as utility stocks rise

* FTSE 100 closes up 0.4 pct at 7,053.67 points

* Utility stocks boosted after Citigroup tips sector

* WPP falls after disappointing Q1 sales

* Sainsbury to cut more jobs but shares rise

* FTSE still near record high despite election worries (Recasts, adds latest prices)

By Francesco Canepa and Lionel Laurent

LONDON, April 23 (Reuters) - Britain's top equity indexpushed higher on Thursday, boosted by a bump-up for utilitiesstocks just two weeks before a general election, while miningstocks also outperformed.

United Utilities climbed 1.1 percent, SSE advanced 1.4 percent and National Grid rose 0.6 percentafter investment bank Citigroup said the sector would befavoured as a protection against any market volatility caused bythe election.

Utility stocks are often preferred in times of market uneasedue to their stable profits and relatively high dividend yields.

Even though uncertainty over the May 7 vote has hit sterling on currency markets, Britain's benchmark FTSE 100 index has been relatively steady.

The FTSE 100 closed up 0.4 percent at 7,053.67 points, neara record high of 7,119.35 reached on April 16. The index is up7.4 percent so far in 2015.

While no single party is expected to win an outrightmajority, the UK stock market has shown few signs of edginess assome investors choose to stay steady rather than cash out on amarket still trading near record highs.

Opinion polls put the right-wing Conservatives neck-and-neckwith the opposition left-wing Labour party, while the ScottishNational Party (SNP) could emerge as the third-biggest party.

A further risk also stems from the Conservatives promising areferendum on Britain's membership of the European Union by theend of 2017, if they win.

"The Conservatives are so driven by this European vote, it'sa red line for them. It's possible that a weak Labour coalitionmay be marginally better for the stock market, although Isuspect it won't matter one way or another as long as it doesn'tinclude the SNP," said Ewen Cameron Watt, global chiefinvestment strategist at BlackRock Investment Institute.

SAINSBURY RISES

Shares in sportswear retailer Sports Direct andelectrical goods group Dixons Carphone weakened after anunexpected fall in UK retail sales data.

WPP, the world's biggest advertising company, also fellafter posting a slowdown in first-quarter like-for-like netsales, which traders said were more sluggish than anticipated.

However, supermarket chain Sainsbury rose afterdeciding to axe 800 store jobs in a drive to cut costs.

Mining stocks such as Antofagasta and AngloAmerican also performed well. Antofagasta was helped byits plan to sell off a business for $965 million while AngloAmerican benefited from higher iron ore output at its Kumbaunit. (Additional reporting by Alasdair Pal and Alistair Smout;Editing by Mark Trevelyan)