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* FTSE 100 up 0.5 pct
* Miners, energy stocks rise
* Tesco leads supermarkets after completes acquisition,upgrade
By Kit Rees
LONDON, March 5 (Reuters) - The UK's top share indexrecovered a little lost ground on Monday as gains among minersand commodity stocks buoyed the market, while Tesco led grocersafter the supermarket completed its acquisition of Booker Group .
The FTSE 100 .FTSE was up 0.5 percent at 7,103.30 pointsby 1008 GMT, in line with a broadly positive European market.However, the index remained close to its lowest level sinceDecember 2016, which it reached on Friday.
"The bounce for the FTSE is tepid at best," Mike van Dulken,head of research at Accendo Markets, said, adding that Brexitwas still hanging over the market following a speech by PrimeMinister Theresa May on Friday which failed to persuade manyinvestors that a deal with the European Union was any closer. materials and energy sectors added the most points tothe index, around 18 points collectively as oil prices advancedbefore a meeting between OPEC and U.S. shale firms. Metalsprices also firmed.
Shares in Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L and BP BP.L both rosearound 0.8 percent.
Miners Rio Tinto RIO.L and BHP Billiton BLT.L , whichboth have high exposure to iron ore, gained more than 1 percentand partially recovered some of the previous session's losseswhen steelmakers were hit by concerns around U.S. PresidentDonald Trump's plans to put tariffs on steel and aluminiumimports. gains were broad-based, shares in grocer Tesco TSCO.L rose 0.6 percent after the company completed its $5.5billion takeover of Booker BOK.L , with Jefferies raising itsrating on the stock to a "buy" rating. stocks have come under pressure from concernsaround an inflation squeeze on consumers and a price war broughton by discount food retailers.
"The obvious benefits of reducing input headwinds and of aless defensively minded consumer should provide a more helpfulbackdrop to grocers from here," analysts at Jefferies said in anote. "Whether this will be supercharged by more modestdiscounter openings remains to be seen, but we are hopeful,"Jefferies added, also upgrading Morrisons MRW.L to "buy".
Outside of the blue chips, Ultra Electronics ULE.L was thebiggest mid cap faller, down more than 13 percent at athree-month low after the defence contractor terminated its $234million acquisition of Sparton Corp SPA.N due to anti-trustconcerns raised by the U.S. Department of Justice. Stocks
http://reut.rs/2CZrvkU
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