* FTSE 1O0 up 0.1 percent; highest close since end-April
* Banks mixed ahead of Basel III bank reforms
By Tricia Wright
LONDON, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index hit a four-month closing high on Friday, for the second day in a row, led by defensive tobacco and pharmaceutical stocks.
The FTSE 100 ended up 7.48 points, or 0.1 percent, at 5,501.64, having added 1.2 percent on Thursday on the back of bullish jobs data from the United States.
U.S. stocks also rose on Friday as energy shares were boosted by a jump in crude oil prices and wholesale inventory data pointed to rising consumer demand.
"The real strength in the market today has come after the U.S. opening," said Peter Dixon, UK economist at Commerzbank.
"If you look at the movements, they are relatively small ... This is noise, this is volatility, and I wouldn't attach too much weight to what's going on," he said.
Gains from defensive stocks helped support the blue-chip index, with cigarette firms Imperial Tobacco and British American Tobacco adding 2.1 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively, while pharma firm Shire rose 1.6 percent.
Banking stocks were mixed ahead of new European bank capital rules, set to be announced this weekend.
Barclays fell 1.3 percent, hurt by a Citigroup downgrade to "hold", while Royal Bank of Scotland put on 0.8 percent after the same broker lifted its rating on the stock to "buy".
"I wouldn't say that investors are trading in fear of this weekend's banking announcement, but certainly there is a degree of calm anticipation in case there are any surprises," said Joshua Raymond, market strategist at City Index.
"That said, there is an air of confidence that the so-called Basel III rules will not mean significant changes for the main UK banks, which have traded strongly today, with much of the uncertainty focused on their European peers," he said.
Banks across Europe were pressured on Friday by news of a potential 9 billion euro ($11.4 billion) share sale by Deutsche Bank.
ICAP BOOSTED
ICAP, the world's biggest interdealer broker, topped the blue-chip leader board, up 3.9 percent, boosted by a note from Evolution that initiated the stock as a "buy", saying a likely rise in volumes should support the stock.
3I Group was another strong gainer, up 2.6 percent after a Financial Times report said it was gearing up to sell its holding in Dutch pump-maker Hyva, valued at around 500 million euros ($634.4 million), at a large profit.
Miners fell, cancelling out some of the previous session's sharp gains, dragged down by lingering uncertainty on the global demand outlook.
Energy stocks were also out of favour. BP dropped 0.9 percent after it announced plans to push back the release of its third-quarter financial results due to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
After gains this week and last, technical analysts were pointing to significant resistance not far from current levels.
Nicole Elliott, technical analyst at Mizuho Corporate Bank said 5,514 was a key level. "A sort of neckline between topping activity in 1999/2000 and 2006/2007, separating that type of price action from the rallies and falls before and after them."
British annual factory-gate inflation slowed more than expected to a six-month low in August, helped by a surprise fall in input prices on the month, driven by oil, official data showed on Friday. (Editing by Will Waterman)