* FTSE up 0.3 percent
* Risk appetite remains after Friday's U.S jobs figures
* Cable & Wireless Worldwide up on bid talk
By David Brett
LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Britain's leading shares rose on Monday, led by banks and commodity stocks as risk appetite remained after a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report in the previous session.
Cable & Wireless Worldwide gained on bid talk. The British telecoms firm added 7.0 percent, topping the list of blue chip risers and hitting a seven-week high, with traders citing a report in the Independent on Sunday which said Singapore's SingTel had contacted bankers in Asia and Europe to discuss the idea of a bid for Cable and Wireless Worldwide.
"It looks like the M&A theme is continuing," Richard Hunter, head of UK Equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers said.
"Sometimes there's no smoke without fire but by the same token corporate balance sheets in general are looking strong, so that's why we are seeing companies looking around at what they see as knock-down prices."
By 0755 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 18.29 points, or 0.3 percent at 5,446.44, having hit a near four-month closing high on Friday at 5,428.15 when it rose for the sixth straight session.
London's leading share index echoed gains on Friday in the U.S. and overnight in Asia as investors exuded confidence after U.S. employment fell for a third straight month in August, though the drop was far less than expected, and private payrolls growth surprised on the upside.
Economy-sensitive banks were among the top gainers, up 0.5 percent, with Lloyds Banking Group up 1.2 percent.
Oil and gas producers, lifted by the improving economic optimism, added 0.8 percent. BP rose 1.2 percent as the Financial Times reported the oil giant revived the sale of its Alaskan assets after failing to offload them to U.S. oil and gas company Apache in July.
Miners added 0.5 percent.
HOME UPGRADE
Home Retail, Britain's No.1 household goods retailer, gained 1.6 percent after Seymour Pierce raised its rating to "hold" from "sell".
In terms of domestic economic data, there is nothing significant scheduled for release on Monday, while U.S. markets will be closed for the Labor Day holiday.
"It's been a muted start ... in the absence of any real corporate news the themes should start kicking in tomorrow, when we come to the end of the summer period with most people back at their desks after Labor day," Hargreaves Lansdown's Hunter said.
"Over the rest of the course of the week we're are going to get some things emerging that will take us through to the end of the year."
On the downside, Smith & Nephew, Europe's largest maker of replacement knees and hips, fell 1.1 percent after JP Morgan downgraded its growth forecasts for the firm.
The FTSE 100 is looking cheaper than other major indexes. It carried a one-year forward price-to-earnings of 9.55 times and a 12-month forward price-to-books of 1.5 times, compared with U.S. S&P 500's 11.55 and 1.7 respectively, and Germany DAX's 9.87 and 1.26, according to Thomson Reuters Datastream.
(Editing by Hans Peters)