* FTSE 100 gains 1.7 percent, hits highest since June 2008
* BoE leaves interest rates and QE unchanged
* Banks, miners gain as Fed's QE boosts confidence
By David Brett
LONDON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Britain's top shares rose sharply on Thursday as the Bank of England kept its interest rates at records lows and its quantitative easing programme on hold, after U.S. policy makers earlier opted to extend its QE measure.
The BoE left interest rates at 0.5 percent and kept its asset-buying programme on hold on Thursday following signs Britain's economic recovery is not slowing as rapidly as feared.
"The Bank of England interest rate decision has not provided any surprises, which of course is always a good thing -- the markets don't like surprises. So it's business as normal... and the markets are looking pretty strong," Angus Campbell, head of sales at Capital Spreads, said.
By 1220 GMT the FTSE 100 was up 98.07 points or 1.7 percent at 5,847.04, reaching its highest since June 2008 after it closed 0.2 percent lower on Wednesday.
Financial stocks were led higher by Man Group, up 11.3 percent, after the world's largest listed hedge fund firm said client assets rose to $40.5 billion at end-September after eight months of outflows.
Banks and miners provided the main strength after the U.S. Federal Reserve launched a fresh effort to support the U.S. economic recovery, committing to buy $600 billion in government bonds which lifted riskier assets around the world despite concerns the programme could do more harm than good.
"There's been impetus from quantitative easing, third-quarter earnings have been much better than expected, and there are no storm clouds on the horizon until the austerity package starts to bite," said David Buik, senior partner at BGC Partners.
On the downside, Rolls Royce fell 4.7 percent after Qantas Airways suspended flights of its Airbus A380 fleet after engine failure triggered an emergency landing in Singapore. Qantas A380s use Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines. (Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)