* Oils, miners gain with firmer commodity prices * Banks mixed; RBS falls as divestments expected
* British Airways weak ahead of results due Friday
By David Brett
LONDON, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index rose 0.6 percent in mid-session trade on Monday supported by gains from miners and oils after bullish economic data, which offset weaker defensive stocks.
By 1205 GMT the FTSE 100 was up 31.71 points at 5,076.26, having fallen 1.8 percent on Friday, notching up its largest weekly fall, at 3.8 percent, since March.
The index fell 1.7 percent overall in October, the first monthly drop since June but is still up about 46 percent since its March low.
Miners were the top gainers boosted by a rise in copper, which was underpinned by strong purchasing managers data from both the UK and China, highlighting that a recovery in demand is well underway.
In the UK the CIPS/Markit purchasing managers index of manufacturing activity rose at its fastest rate in two years in October and new orders rose at their fastest in almost six years as firms started rebuilding their stocks.
The news came on the back of HSBC's China Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), which rose to an 18-month high in October of 55.4 from 55.0 in September, pointing to sustained strength in the country's fast-growing manufacturing sector.
Rio Tinto, BHP Biliton, Xstrata, Anglo American, Kazakhmys and ENRC gained 1.8 to 5.6 percent.
Gold miner Randgold Resources was one of the top FTSE 100 risers, up 4.5 percent after it agreed with AngloGold Ashanti to buy an additional 20 percent in the Moto gold project in the Democratic Republic of Congo for about $113.6 million.
Energy majors were also in demand as the price of crude oil rose, with BG Group, BP and Royal Dutch Shell adding 0.4 to 1.9 percent.
However, Anthony Grech, a market strategist at IG Index said the index's moves merely looks like posturing ahead of more important data due out towards the end of the week.
"With the Bank of England tipped to extend quantitative easing at their meeting later in the week and the US non-farm payrolls (employment data) due on Friday there's no shortage of scope for further volatility to be seen in the near term," he said.
"For the time being there seems to be quiet confidence that last week's correction may be at an end," Grech added.
RBS/LLOYDS FALL
Royal Bank of Scotland topped the blue chip fallers, down 7.8 percent, after the part-nationalised lender said talks with the European Commission as competition regulator over its state aid will include some divestments not initially contemplated.
Lloyds Banking Group, also part-owned by the government, fell 3.5 percent as investors awaited developments with regards to a planned capital raising.
Other banks were mixed with Barclays and heavyweight HSBC up 1 percent each, while Standard Chartered fell 0.1 percent.
Defensive stocks such as pharmaceuticals and tobaccos weighed most on the index as some appetite for risk returned.
AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and Shire fell 1.2 to 1.6 percent, while British American Tobacco lost 0.5 percent following results from all four last week.
Among individual stocks, British Airways, which along with retailer Marks & Spencer and hedge fund operator Man Group reports results this week, fell 2.8 percent. Analysts expect the ailing airline to report widening second-quarter losses.
British Airways shares also came under pressure after results from European budget airline Ryanair disappointed due to a lack of upward revisions to its full-year profit forecasts.
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Monday, signalling a rebound after the previous session's steep losses, with futures for the S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq 100 up 0.4-0.6 percent.
The U.S. ISM report for October, plus September pending homes sales and construction spending numbers should attract attention later in the session. (Reporting by David Brett; Editing by Greg Mahlich)