FTSE up after seesaw session; data mixed, miners up

By Michael Taylor

LONDON, May 14 (Reuters) - Britain's leading share index ended slightly higher on Wednesday after a flurry of mixed data caused a choppy trading session while merger and acquisition speculation buoyed miners. The FTSE 100 index .FTSE gained 4.1 points, or 0.1 percent at 6,216.0 after earlier falling as low as 6,167.9.

Inflation pushed shares lower early on, after the day after the Bank of England said in a report that inflation would shoot up over the next year and remain above the 2 percent target in two years if rates fall by half a percentage point as markets expect. [ID:nL14821870]. [ID:nL14799522]

But the gloom lifted late in the session as U.S. markets rose after government inflation data eased concerns the Federal Reserve might have to raise interest rates. [ID:nN14432716]

"Better than expected inflation figures from the U.S. managed to pull the FTSE up by its bootstraps today," said David Evans, market analyst at BetOnMarkets.com. "The UK's leading benchmark index was down before the U.S. CPI figures came in and managed to push back into the black."

"Unfortunately, there were no positive surprises coming from the MPC today, just more bad news on inflation and growth prospects for the UK economy."

Banks featured prominently on the downside, as the broader economic concerns were compounded by the need for more rights issues in the sector.

Bradford & Bingley (BB.L: Quote, Profile, Research) lost 9.3 percent after the lender unveiled a 300 million pound rights issue, just a month after saying it had no plans to do so. [ID:nL14135629]

Analysts said the news would add to pressure on rival Alliance & Leicester (A&L) (ALLL.L: Quote, Profile, Research) to raise capital. Barclays (BARC.L: Quote, Profile, Research) is also seen in need of boosting its capital position.