* FTSE 100 gains 0.8 percent on first session of Q4
* Commodity issues lead advance as crude, metal prices gain
* Banks rally after poor week as risk appetite returns
By Jon Hopkins
LONDON, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Britain's leading share index pushed higher on the first session of the final quarter of 2010, fueled by gains in commodity issues and banks as some semblance of a risk appetite returned for investors.
At the close, the FTSE 100 was up 44.28 points, or 0.8 percent, at 5,592.90 points, making a good start to the new month having put on 6.2 percent in September, although an early push up to technical resistance above 5,610 failed to hold.
"After a strong performance in the third quarter, stock market indices look harder to call for the run to the end of the year," said David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index.
"They still seem to have a positive bias overall, but after the gains we've seen since the lows in July, it wouldn't be a shock to see a more tentative quarter ahead."
Commodity issues led the blue chip advance as crude prices rose close to $81 per barrel and metal prices firmed across the board after above-forecast data from China boosted confidence in the global economic recovery.
BG Group was the biggest blue chip riser, up 4.6 percent with an agreement between Chinese refiner Sinopec Group and Repsol in Brazil seen as supportive to the UK company's valuation.
BP gained 3 percent as it detailed the Gulf of Mexico assets it will use to help finance the $20 billion fund for victims of its oil spill and said the cost of dealing with the disaster had risen to $11.2 billion.
BP shares were up around 9 percent over the three sessions since making operational changes on Wednesday, although the stock saw strong technical resistance around 446 pence.
Miners, such as Lonmin up 2.8 percent, gained after news Chinese manufacturing gathered momentum last month, easily beating forecasts and providing further evidence that the economy is pulling smoothly out of a second-quarter slowdown.
But Friday's U.S. economic data proved mixed, with ISM data showing growth in the manufacturing sector slowed in September, while construction spending increased unexpectedly in August, and consumer sentiment improved more than expected in September, although it was still stuck at its weakest level in a year.
U.S. blue chips pared early gains after the ISM report but were still up 0.2 percent by London's close.
Domestic economic data showed activity in Britain's manufacturing sector weakened more than expected in September to grow at its slowest pace in 10 months.
BANKS BOUNCE
UK banks rallied after recent sharp falls, benefitting from investors' slightly improved appetite for risk, with Royal Bank of Scotland up 1 percent, and HSBC ahead 1.3 percent as Goldman Sachs added it to its "Conviction Buy" list.
Among individual gainers, ARM Holdings, up 3.3 percent, rallied after recent falls as Exane BNP Paribas hiked its target price for the chip designer, while oil services firm Amec gained 2.4 percent as Credit Suisse started coverage with "outperform".
Defensively-perceived stocks missed out on the blue chip rally as risk plays became more attractive for investors, with food producer AB Foods and brewer SABMiller among the worst off, down 1.7 and 1.3 percent respectively. (Editing by Hans Peters)