Britain's FTSE steady, mining stocks advance

(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)

* Mining shares among top gainers

* Experian (Other OTC: EXPGF - news) falls after update

By Atul Prakash

LONDON, May 11 (Reuters) - Britain's leading share index was steady on Wednesday, with a rebound in the mining sector on the back of stronger metals prices offsetting weakness in other stocks following results.

The FTSE 100 index was down 0.1 percent by 0816 GMT after rising 0.7 percent on Tuesday. The benchmark is down about 1.6 percent this month after three straight months of gains.

Resource-related stocks were in demand, with the UK mining index rising 1.6 percent, the top sectoral gainer, after prices of copper, aluminium and zinc rose between about one percent to two percent.

"After the recent sell-off, miners are once again in demand, with stronger metal prices underpinning the sector. However, the sector's outlook still looks grim following lingering concerns about the pace of economic growth in top metals consumer China," Securequity senior trader, Jawaid Afsar, said.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Glencore (Xetra: A1JAGV - news) , Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L - news) and Antofagasta (Other OTC: ANFGF - news) rose between about one percent and two percent.

However, banks lost ground after strong gains in the previous session. The UK banking index fell 1.3 percent, dragged down by losses of about two percent in Standard Chartered, Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) and Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS.L - news) .

Among individual movers, Experian fell nearly 2 percent after the world's biggest credit data company reported unchanged full-year pretax profit against a backdrop of adverse foreign exchange movements.

Compass Group (Other OTC: CMPGF - news) rose 1.7 percent after the world's biggest catering firm maintained its full-year expectations, citing an encouraging pipeline of new orders. It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) posted higher first-half revenue on the back of strong demand for its services in North America and Europe.

"Current trading is said to be robust, with good progress on new contract wins and retention rates," Shore Capital said, referring to Compass Group.

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.

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Mike Dolan, Markets Editor EMEA. (Editing by Louise Ireland)