Healthcare stocks lift UK's FTSE 100

* FTSE 100 up 0.2 pct, near 3-week high

* AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN - news) up on speculation over new Pfizer (NYSE: PFE - news) bid

* Miners lag after weak Chinese data

By Tricia Wright and Sudip Kar-Gupta

LONDON, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Britain's top equity index rose

on Thursday on gains in healthcare stocks, led by AstraZeneca

on speculation rejected U.S. suitor Pfizer might

make another bid.

AstraZeneca rose 2.7 percent while domestic rival

GlaxoSmithKline (Other OTC: GLAXF - news) advanced 1 percent, adding the most

points to the FTSE 100 by some margin.

Beaufort Securities sales trader Basil Petrides said there

was a good chance Pfizer would come back with a new bid, and

that shareholders would put pressure on AstraZeneca to respond.

"AstraZeneca can invite Pfizer back for talks, and that's

what is driving up the shares," he said.

AstraZeneca snubbed a Pfizer bid earlier this year.

But while British takeover rules mean deal talks could be

back on the cards as early as Aug. 26, following the ending of

the first of a two-stage cooling-off period, many investors and

analysts see the year-end as a more likely time for any return.

Irish building supplies group CRH (NYSE: CRH - news) also notched up

good gains, rising 2.1 percent, with traders citing a rating

upgrade to "market-perform" by Bernstein, partly on valuation

grounds.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was up 12.16 points, or

0.2 percent, at 6,767.64 points by 1419 GMT, approaching

three-week highs touched earlier this week.

The market was little changed after July data showing

British retail sales grew at a weaker pace than expected and

public finances posted a small deficit.

.

Major mining stocks underperformed, with the FTSE 350 Mining

Index slipping 0.6 percent after a disappointing

manufacturing survey from China, the world's biggest metals

consumer.

Growth in China's vast factory sector slowed to a

three-month low in August as output and new orders moderated,

the survey showed, reviving concerns about the economy.

(Editing by John Stonestreet)