Britain's FTSE advances as Royal Mail rises

(ADVISORY- Reuters plans to replace intra-day European and UK stock market reports with a Live Markets blog on Eikon - see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets for site in development. See the bottom of the report for more details)

* FTSE up 0.2 pct

* Royal Mail (LSE: RMG.L - news) rises on upgrade

* Miners track metals prices lower

* Sports Direct drops on downgrade

By Kit Rees

LONDON, May 23 (Reuters) - UK shares edged higher on Monday, led by a rise in Royal Mail after a spate of broker upgrades, though mining stocks were under pressure.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index rose 0.2 percent to 6,166.25 pionts by 0837 GMT. The index is down just over 1 percent for the year, having posted its biggest daily gain in over a month last Friday.

Royal Mail was the top riser on the FTSE 100 index, up 2.9 percent after upgrades from brokers Cantor Fitzgerald and RBC Capital Markets.

"We expect parcels in the UK and Europe to drive the top-line and restructuring and productivity gains to support the bottom-line," analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald said in a note.

"(Royal Mail) faces potentially tough wage and pension negotiations this year but the risks are probably overstated," Cantor Fitzgerald added.

Mining stocks, however, were the biggest sectoral fallers, with the FTSE 350 Mining index down 1.3 percent as a stronger dollar put pressure on metals prices.

Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L - news) , BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) , Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO.L - news) and Glencore (Xetra: A1JAGV - news) all fell between 0.9 percent to 3.2 percent.

Among mid-caps, sports retailer Sports Direct dropped over 5 percent after Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "buy".

"The UK high street is changing - we're seeing quite an uptick in online shopping," Jonathan Roy, advisory investment manager at Charles Hanover Investments, said.

"(Sports Direct is) seeing relative sales online, but the retail space that they're occupying is becoming a bit of a burden and that's a trend that we expect to see follow through for the rest of 2016 and beyond."

ADVISORY- Reuters plans to replace intra-day European and UK stock market reports with a Live Markets blog on Eikon (see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets for site in development). In a real-time, multimedia format from 0600 London time through the 1630 closing bell, it will include the best of our market reporting, Stocks Buzz service, Eikon graphics, Reuters pictures, eye-catching research and market zeitgeist. Breaking news and dramatic market moves will continue to be alerted to all clients and we will continue to provide a short opening story and comprehensive closing reports.

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Mike Dolan, Markets Editor EMEA. (Reporting by Kit Rees)