FTSE ends up 1.2% on banks, miners; Shell, BAT fall

* FTSE 100 ends up 1.2 pct

* Banks top-weighted gainers, helped by U.S. rate cut

* Shell, British American Tobacco, Stagecoach fall after Q3

(For more on the financial turmoil, click on [nCRISIS])

By Dominic Lau

LONDON, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index rose for a third day in a row on Thursday as gains in banks and miners offset weakness in Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research), Stagecoach (SGC.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and British American Tobacco (BATS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) after their results.

The FTSE 100 .FTSE closed 49.11 points or 1.2 percent higher at 4,291.65 in a choppy session, swinging from a low of 4,200.24 to a high of 4,352.47. The UK benchmark rallied 8 percent on Wednesday, but it is still down 12.5 percent for the month and 33 percent for the year.

More than 1.3 billion shares changed hands, compared with 1.67 billion on Wednesday and last week's average of 1.49 billion.

"Things were very, very oversold last week. This week a lot of the doom and gloom has almost been factored in and people have suddenly thought that at these levels if I am taking a five-year view, it can't go that wrong," said Angus Campbell, head of sales at Capital Spreads.