Britain's top share index gained 0.8 percent early on Thursday, lifted by miners and energy stocks which gained on firmer commodity prices, while risk sensitive banks also gained ground, according to Reuters. By 0806 GMT the FTSE 100 was up 44.05 points at 5,723.69 after it ended up 7.32 points, or 0.1 percent, on Wednesday, the final session of the first quarter. Miners provided the biggest support to the index as metal prices moved higher. These were boosted by an improving demand outlook after China's vast manufacturing sector moved up a gear in March with two business surveys showing a climb in orders on Thursday, pointing to brisk first-quarter GDP growth. Rio Tinto, Xstrata, Lonmin, Anglo American, Kazakhmys and BHP Billiton added 1.7 to 2.5 percent. "We've got a steady trickle upwards, helped by miners, but its worth noting that volumes are light and our clients are wondering whether it will hold," said Giles Watts, head of equities at City Index. The FTSE 100 gained 6.1 percent in March, its strongest month since last August and is up 4.9 percent this year after gaining 22 percent in 2009. It has gained in four consecutive quarters after seeing five quarters of losses prior to that. "We would expect some kind of retracement before indexes move much higher," Watts said. Trading was light and moves relatively muted ahead of the Easter long weekend break and before U.S. non-farm payrolls due out on Friday. Analysts forecast a 190,000 increase in U.S. jobs in March after a fall of 36,000 in February, but investors will have to wait until Tuesday to see equity market reaction as equity markets are closed on Friday and Monday. Energy stocks also moved higher benefitting from the perception that economic activity is going to increase, with crude moving beyond $84 per barrel. BG Group, BP, Tullow Oil and Cairn Energy added 0.7 to 1.2 percent. However, mobile phone heavyweight Vodafone was the biggest drag on the index, down 0.7 percent, weighed down as regulator Ofcom proposed cutting the cost operators can charge each other to connect calls on their network. Banks also added points to the index as investors bought the risk-sensitive stocks. Barclays, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group gained 0.2 to 2.0 percent. Defensive stocks, many of which fell on Wednesday as investors squared positions at the end of the first quarter, bounced back at the start of the second quarter. British American Tobacco, supermarket group Tesco and beverage firm Diageo added 0.5 to 0.9 percent. CIPS UK manufacturing PMI data for March is due at 0828 GMT, while the Bank of England Credit Conditions Survey is out at 0830 GMT. In the United States, ahead of Friday's payrolls, investor attention this afternoon will be on the latest weekly U.S. initial jobless claims numbers and the March Challenger layoffs survey.
