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People are living longer than ever before and this can impact how you plan for retirement

Britain's FTSE buoyed by earnings, mining sector rebound

Reuters - UK Focus

* FTSE 100 up 0.2 pct

* Legal and General helped by strong bulk annuities

* LSE Group also beats earnings expectations

* Miners rebound despite lacklustre copper price

By Alistair Smout

LONDON, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index rose on Wednesday, boosted by better-than-expected results from Legal and General and London Stock Exchange (Other OTC: LDNXF - news) , and by a rebound in the mining sector.

British insurer Legal & General (LSE: LGEN.L - news) rose 3.6 percent, the top FTSE 100 riser, after beating forecasts with an 18 percent jump in operating profit, helped by a strong performance in the bulk annuity market.

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London Stock Exchange Group also beat expectations as profit after tax rose 21 percent.

So far this earnings seasons, 58 percent of FTSE 100 companies have beaten or met expectations, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine data.

The FTSE 100 was up 12.17 points, or 0.2 percent, at 6,698.74 by 0818 GMT, about 6 percent off all-time highs hit in April.

The index has been hindered in recent weeks by falls in heavily weighted mining stocks. However, FTSE 350 mining shares rose 1.8 percent, recovering from near six-year lows.

With copper also pinned neared six-year lows, hit by concerns over demand from China and the prospect of a U.S. rate rise later this year, traders were not optimistic on the outlook for the sector.

"Miners have been hit quite hard, and must've reached a level where some see them as attractively valued," said Mark Priest, sales trader at ETX Capital.

"But we're not seeing a rebound in metal prices, there is talk the U.S. will raise rates and China is still a concern globally."

Top faller was housebuilder Travis Perkins (LSE: TPK.L - news) , down 1.9 percent after a downgrade from Citi to "neutral" from "buy".

It has dropped nearly 4 percent over the last two sessions after an update that reported results in line with expectations but gave little clarity on the outlook.

(Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Andrew Heavens)