Britain's FTSE recovers on BoE stimulus expectations

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* FTSE 100 index up 0.2 percent

* Vodafone, CRH (EUREX: 558474.EX - news) among top gainers

* Miners track weaker metals prices

By Atul Prakash

LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index edged higher on Friday on hopes of further action from the country's central bank following poor UK data, with companies including Vodafone and CRH gaining on positive updates.

Expectations grew that the Bank of England could do more next month to stimulate growth as surveys showed Britain's economy appeared to be shrinking at the fastest rate since the financial crisis in the wake of last month's Brexit vote.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 was up 0.2 percent by 0911 GMT after opening lower, with the benchmark index staying on track for its fifth straight week of gains following a gradual recovery after a post-Brexit sell-off.

"The FTSE 100 is actually reacting in a positive manner. That, of course, is down to expectations the Bank of England may apply the economic stimulus markets absolutely love in August," Augustin Eden, analyst at Accendo Market, said.

"We've been wondering about over-egged expectations due to a lack of economic data to either confirm or refute the negative implications of the Brexit vote. The PMI (Other OTC: PMIR - news) data has now given us one good reason to expect an August rate cut, more quantitative easing or an extension of the funding for lending scheme."

Among other sharp movers, Vodafone rose 4.7 percent after the world's second-largest mobile operator reported a better-than-expected 2.2 percent gain in first-quarter organic service revenue, marking an eighth consecutive quarterly rise.

CRH rose 3.6 percent after hiking its first-half core profit guidance.

However, gains were capped by some weaker companies. Marks & Spencer declined 2 percent after Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) downgraded the stock to "underweight" from "equal weight" and cut its price target to 290 pence from 410 pence.

"The new management team's strategy of focusing on customers and product may be the start of a turnaround story, but things can get worse before they get better. We expect a painful transition and material EPS downgrades," Barclays analyst Christodoulos Chaviaras said in a note.

The UK mining index fell 0.5 percent after copper prices dropped. Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L - news) , Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO.L - news) and BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) fell around 1 percent. (Reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Dale Hudson)