* FTSE 100 up 0.6 pct
* Sainsbury top blue-chip faller
* Housebuilders boosted by budget statement
By Tricia Wright
LONDON, March 23 (Reuters) - Strong miners helped move Britain's top shares higher on Wednesday, on a budget day that brought a mixed outlook for UK corporates.
J Sainsbury
The FTSE 100 <.FTSE> closed up 33.17 points, or 0.6 percent, at 5,795.88, having ended down 0.4 percent on Tuesday.
Pre-budget, the spotlight fell on Sainsbury, the most traded stock across Europe at 421 percent of its 30-day average, with the FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> trading only 84 percent of its 30-day average.
The grocer topped the blue-chip fallers' list, off 5.4 percent, after it missed fourth-quarter sales forecasts, stoking fears of a downturn in consumer spending. [ID:nLDE72L13I]
But money managers saw opportunities among UK consumer stocks, which have been poor performers in recent months.
Jeremy Thomas, chief investment officer UK equities at fund
manager RCM, who oversees about 2 billion pounds ($3.27
billion), has been gradually adding new investments in selected
companies such as Tesco
Thomas said that while profit expectations for more cyclical
retailers such as Next
Shares in Tesco firmed 0.3 percent, while Next advanced 1.5 percent ahead of its full-year results on Thursday, with traders optimistic about its online sales.
FUEL CUT
Whilst Sainsbury's results highlighted challenges currently facing the UK consumer, help with soaring petrol prices offered by finance minister George Osborne in his budget for the 2011/12 fiscal year was welcomed by the market.
Fuel duty is to be cut by 1 penny per litre, taking effect in petrol stations from 1800 GMT tonight. [ID:nOSBORNE]
"The petrol duty is a big headline grabber. It's a bit of a relief to everyone, and will be a good shock for consumer confidence... so you can read across that that's good for the economy," Joe Rundle, head of trading at ETX Capital, said.
Also aiding investor sentiment, he said, was the fact the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee maintained its 6-3 split in favour of keeping rates on hold this month.
On the second tier, UK housebuilders received a boost from the budget statement, aided by news that from this year's bank levy the government will fund a 250 million pounds commitment to first-time buyers.
Redrow
North Sea-focused oil firms, however, lost out, as Osborne raised the supplementary tax charge levied on oil and gas production in the UK to 32 percent from 20 percent.
Midcap Enquest
Back among the risers, Kazakh miner Eurasian Natural
Resources
Sector peers were in demand as copper prices rose, and after mining executives said reconstruction in Japan after the earthquake would be bullish for metals. (Additional reporting by Simon Jessop; Editing by Mike Nesbit) ($1=.6108 pounds)