Britain's FTSE 100 index rose 0.8 percent by mid-session on Thursday, led by financials after the Bank of England promised extra funds to ease liquidity pressure and by miners on firmer metal prices. By 1119 GMT, the blue-chip FTSE 100 was up 46.4 points at 5,706.8, after falling 0.5 percent in the previous session. The UK benchmark index has lost 11 percent so far this year thanks to the credit market turmoil and fears of a US recession, and is on course for its worst quarter since the third quarter of 2002 and its third consecutive quarter of losses. Banks were buoyed after the Bank of England offered 13.62 billion pounds at its regular one-week open-market operation, up from 10.93 billion pounds a week ago, while the European Central Bank promised to pump additional liquidity if needed as the quarter comes to an end. “Markets can be reasonably satisfied that the Bank of England is now coming out of the closet and giving them what they want,” said Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at BGC Partners. Barclays rose 2.5 percent, Royal Bank of Scotland advanced 1.5 percent, HBOS climbed 3.9 percent, Lloyds TSB added 1.1 percent and HSBC put on 1.3 percent. Merrill Lynch adding Barclays to its most preferred list also lifted the bank, while HBOS was removed from the broker's least preferred list. Heavyweight oil shares tracked higher crude prices, which jumped more than $1 due to an oil pipeline explosion in Iraq. __
