Britain's FTSE rises, boosted by BP and Whitbread

(ADVISORY- Reuters plans to replace intra-day European and UK stock market reports with a Live Markets blog on Eikon - see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets for site in development. See the bottom of the report for more details)

* FTSE up, slightly below last week's 4-month high

* BP rises as results beat forecasts despite profit slump

* Cobham (Other OTC: CBHMF - news) slumps after rights issue, profit warning

By Sudip Kar-Gupta

LONDON, April 26 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index climbed on Tuesday as oil major BP and hotels and food group Whitbread (LSE: WTB.L - news) both rose after earnings that reassured investors.

Gains were capped by further falls in mining stocks as concerns about China, the world's biggest metals consumer, weighed.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index rose 0.4 percent to 6,288.65 points, slightly below a 4-month high reached last week.

A 3 percent rise at BP added the most points to the FTSE.

BP posted an 80 percent drop in first quarter profits but still beat analysts' expectations. The firm maintained its dividend and said it could cut capital spending further.

"Overall it's a good set of figures as it looks like BP is getting costs under control," said Joe Rundle, head of trading at ETX Capital.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Whitbread, which runs Premier Inn budget hotels and the Costa Coffee chain, rose 3.3 percent after the firm reported a rise in profits.

Mining stocks including Glencore (Xetra: A1JAGV - news) and Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO.L - news) fell, with metals prices and iron ore and steel prices losing ground.

Iron ore and steel futures in China fell sharply on Tuesday after authorities raised transaction costs to cool last week's rapid gains in Chinese commodities, which had raised fears of an unstable speculative bubble forming.

Shares in engineer Cobham, which is on the FTSE 250 mid-cap index, also slumped 19 percent after Cobham (Amsterdam: CH6.AS - news) proposed a 500 million pounds ($724.80 million) rights issue to strengthen its balance sheet after issuing a profit waring.

The FTSE 100 is up around 1 percent so far in 2016, but 12 percent below a record high reached in April 2015.

ADVISORY- Reuters plans to replace intra-day European and UK stock market reports with a Live Markets blog on Eikon (see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets for site in development). In a real-time, multimedia format from 0600 London time through the 1630 closing bell, it will include the best of our market reporting, Stocks Buzz service, Eikon graphics, Reuters pictures, eye-catching research and market zeitgeist. Breaking news and dramatic market moves will continue to be alerted to all clients and we will continue to provide a short opening story and comprehensive closing reports.

If you have any thoughts, suggestions or feedback on this, please email mike.dolan@thomsonreuters.com.

Mike Dolan, Markets Editor EMEA. (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; editing by John Stonestreet)