* FTSE 100 gains 1.8 percent
* TUI Travel jumps after profit at top end of expectations
* Banks, commods rise on hope debt crisis will be contained
By Simon Falush
LONDON, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Banks and commodity stocks powered strong gains for Britain's top share index on Thursday on growing investor confidence that the euro zone debt crisis would be contained.
By 1531 GMT, the FTSE 100 index was 99.39 points, or 1.8 percent, higher at 5,741.89 to be ahead for a second session after ending November down at levels not seen since mid-September.
Shares initially fell as comments from European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet suggested that it would resist pressure to announce a major bond buying programme.
However they soon bounced higher as confidence reasserted itself that the authorities would do what was needed to prevent the crisis which erupted in Ireland last month spreading while U.S. home sales data also provided a shot in the arm.
"There's more confidence than there has been that (euro zone debt) problems can be contained than there has been since the Ireland news started to emerge about two weeks ago," Giles Watts, head of equities at City Index said.
Commodity stocks extended gains from Wednesday, tracking firmer metal and crude prices on recovery expectations and as upbeat economic data out of China, Europe and the United States pointed to a brighter demand outlook.
BP added 2.6 percent while oil service firm Petrofac gained 3 percent after Goldman Sachs upgraded it to "buy" from "neutral".
Miners Rio Tinto, Anglo American and BHP Billiton were 2.7-4.2 percent higher.
BANKS BOOSTED
Banks were also in demand, as fears that the sector could face more setbacks as a result of the euro zone debt crisis began to fade.
Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered rose 2.8 to 3.8 percent.
In earnings news, TUI Travel, Europe's biggest travel company, rose 7.5 percent, the top gainer after full-year operating profit came in at the top end of expectations.
Chief executive Peter Long declined to comment on the prospect of a bid from German namesake TUI.
Elsewhere, GKN gained 7.2 percent, boosted by a rise in U.S. auto sales. "It is really the only FTSE stock exposed to the auto market," a trader said. "There was a consensus short on it, and that is being squeezed which is also helping it."
Defensive stocks like Imperial Tobacco and Morrison Supermarkets were among a short list of fallers as investors rotated into more cyclically biased stocks. (Reporting by Simon Falush; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)