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Oil companies prop up FTSE as miners collapse

Energy companies kept Britain's top share index out of the red on Thursday as oil prices were lifted by violence in Iraq.

But the FTSE struggled to make any real headway as heavyweight mining stocks dropped sharply after worries about declining Chinese demand sent copper prices to a one-month low.

The FTSE 100 ended up 4.24 points, or 0.1 percent, at 6,843.11 points.

Energy stocks added 10.24 points to the index as Brent crude oil climbed towards $112 a barrel on concerns for supply from Iraq, a major OPEC exporter. Sunni Muslim rebels from an al Qaeda splinter group overran the Iraqi city of Tikrit on Wednesday and closed in on the biggest oil refinery in the country.

"If oil prices go up... it directly flows to revenues and to the bottom line," Oswald Clint, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein, said.

BG, which does not have a presence in Iraq, rose 2.5 percent, the top FTSE riser, while BP and Royal Dutch Shell, which are present in the country, added 0.7 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

Companies dealing in basic materials, however, knocked 10.8 points off the FTSE. Miners Rio Tinto and Anglo American were each down over 3 percent, the top FTSE fallers.

ITV rose 1.6 percent after a Brandrepublic report suggested that advertising group Omnicom would redirect 30 million pounds ($50.37 million) worth of ad spending to the British broadcaster from rival Channel 5.

"An extra 30 million pounds in an operationally geared business like ITV could see a high flow-through of that into profits, so that's certainly good news for ITV," Paul Richards, an analyst at Numis Securities, said.

Trade in ITV shares was busy, with volume 50 percent above the stock's daily average for the past three months. Trading across the FTSE 100 was quieter, with volume around two-thirds percent of its own average.

The index has traded in a tight 130-point range since the beginning of May, while other European indexes have pushed up to new multi-year highs, buoyed by stimulus from the European Central Bank.

The FTSE 100 is down 0.3 percent this week - the third time it has failed to break out of the range in the last six weeks.

"The UK FTSE remains locked in a tight ... range, with catalysts lacking for a break either way," Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, said in a note. ($1 = 0.5956 British pounds) (Additional reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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