FTSE index ends higher, BHP up on listing news

* FTSE 100 closes 0.5 pct higher after recent falls

* BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) , Vodafone among top gainers

* Draghi's pledge of continued support helps

By Atul Prakash

LONDON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index ended higher on Wednesday, with gains from BHP Billiton on its plan to list a spin-off company also in London and supportive comments from ECB chief Mario Draghi underpinning the market.

BHP Billiton rose in late trading and ended 3.2 percent higher, the top gainer on the FTSE 100 index, after saying it would list the demerged company having aluminium, coal, manganese, nickel and silver assets worth an estimated $16 billion in London, Sidney and Johannesburg.

The market also got support from comments from Draghi, who said euro zone monetary policy would remain accommodative for a long period and that the goal was to push up inflation from near zero towards its target of just below 2 percent.

"Mario Draghi is no doubt moving closer towards a potential shift to implement quantitative easing (QE) with each measure that fails to generate growth of inflation and output," Alpari analyst Joshua Mahony said.

The FTSE 100 finished 0.5 percent higher at 6,706.27 points after staying almost flat during most of the session. It gained in the last hour of trading, tracking higher U.S. stocks.

The FTSE had fallen 2 percent at the start of the week on profit warnings from Tate & Lyle (LSE: TATE.L - news) and Tesco (Xetra: 852647 - news) and more weak economic data from the euro zone, Britain's biggest trading partner. S&P put Tesco on "creditwatch negative" after news it had overstated its half-year profit guidance.

That loss for the FTSE 100 index left the benchmark looking "oversold" on its 14-day Relative Strength Index, a technical momentum indicator, and traders said they were looking to buy back into the market.

"The markets have a taken a few hits recently, but I think the returns are still on the upside with regards to equities. People are prepared to take some extra risk and chase equities in search of yields," David Battersby, investment manager at Redmayne-Bentley, said.

Index heavyweight Vodafone rose 2.8 percent, with traders citing some takeover speculation and after a European Commission source said EU regulators were set to remove limits on the prices that leading telecoms firms can charge smaller operators for accessing their networks.

Miner Fresnillo rose 2.2 percent after UBS (NYSEArca: FBGX - news) added it to its "most preferred" list. It cited the recent acquisition of Newmont Mining Corp's 44 percent stake in Mexican gold mining joint venture Penmont as a small medium-term positive.

"After recent share price weakness we see attractive long-term value in Fresnillo (Other OTC: FNLPF - news) and are attracted to its low cost assets, production growth, high return projects, exploration upside and conservative management," UBS analysts said.

Stocks trading without their latest dividend included Old Mutual and Centrica (LSE: CNA.L - news) . (Additional reporting by Tricia Wright; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)