Britain's FTSE near record high; Hikma's loss holds index back

* FTSE 100 flat, within reach of April's record high

* Lloyds suffers from downgrade

* BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) reverses early fall on South32 debut

* Citigroup (NYSE: C - news) upgrade lifts Weir (Adds quote, detail, recasts)

By Alistair Smout and Sudip Kar-Gupta

LONDON, May 18 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index pulled back on Monday after coming within a few points of its record highs, as a drop in Hikma shares offset gains by major oil and mining companies.

The FTSE 100 index gave up early gains to trade just 1.50 points higher at 1103 GMT, flat in percentage terms, at 6,961.99.

The index hit a high of 7,015.49 points in early session trading, close to the record 7,122.74 points it reached in late April. The FTSE 100 is up by around 7 percent this year.

The biggest loser on the index was Hikma, which dropped 2.8 percent after its founder, who was also a major shareholder, died on Friday. The pharmaceutical company fell 2.6 percent in volume of two thirds of its 90-day average by mid-session trade.

Lloyds also fell after the bank was downgraded to "sell" from "hold" by Investec (LSE: INVP.L - news) .

Out of 26 analysts with a rating on Lloyds, only three have a "sell" rating, according to Thomson Reuters data. Shares (Frankfurt: DI6.F - news) in the bank are up over 13 percent this month.

"They've had a really strong rally this year, and I've been expecting them to pause," Zeg Choudhry, managing director of LONTRAD. "However, there's not many with a `sell' rating on the stock ... the general trend for the stock is higher."

Among risers, BHP Billiton reversed early losses and traded up 3.3 percent after a weak debut by its spinoff, South32 , in Sydney. News that the spinoff would not be included in FTSE indices led some fund managers to take money out of South32 and put it into BHP, traders said.

Gold and silver miner Fresnillo (Other OTC: FNLPF - news) advanced by 3.9 percent, the top riser, after it gave a reassuring outlook at its annual general meeting, saying that its 2018 silver production target remained in place.

Material-related companies added 9 points to the index, with the FTSE 350 Mining Index rising 1.8 percent.

A rise in oil stocks such as Royal Dutch Shell (Xetra: R6C1.DE - news) and BP gave one of the biggest lifts to the market, after fighting in Iraq and Yemen pushed up oil prices..

Engineering company Weir also gained 3.3 percent after U.S. bank Citigroup upgraded its rating on the stock to "buy" from "neutral".

Among mid-cap stocks, engineering software group Aveva rose 8 percent on bid speculation. Satellite company Inmarsat (Other OTC: IMASF - news) fell 3.3 percent after a delay in the launch of its third Global Xpress satellite.

(Editing by Larry King)