Financial stocks help Britain's FTSE bounce back

* Blue (OTC BB: BUES - news) -chip FTSE 100 (NasdaqGS: Z - news) index gains 0.7 pct

* Gains cut after Yellen testimony

* Banks top leaderboard after recent slump

* Tesco (Hanover: TCO.HA - news) shares extend advance following industry report (Adds detail, comment)

By Atul Prakash and Alistair Smout

LONDON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index moved higher on Wednesday, led by financial stocks as banks made up some ground on bargain-hunting after three straight sessions of losses.

However, gains were curtailed after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said that the Fed should be able to gradually adjust monetary policy thanks to strength in the U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . economy, despite growing concerns over global growth.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index rose 40.24 points, or 0.7 percent to 5,672.43 by 1457 GMT after concerns over growth saw the index fall more than 1 percent in the previous session. The benchmark index is down nearly 9 percent so far this year.

The UK banking index rose 1.5 percent after slumping more than 8 percent since Monday, as investors fretted about the health of the sector and the global economy.

Press reports said Deutsche Bank (Other OTC: DBAGF - news) and Credit Suisse were taking measures to reassure the market following recent falls.

The financial sector contributed 23 points to the market's rise.

"Financial stocks in general are finding some support after the torrid start to the week, but this looks more like opportunistic bargain hunters dipping a toe in the water rather than a wholesale shift in sentiment," said Tony Cross, analyst at Trustnet Direct.

Tesco rose 4.9 percent, bringing gains since the previous session to 6.7 percent after a report on Tuesday by researcher Kantar Worldpanel said the company showed signs of improvement.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Worldpay rose 5.2 percent after Goldman Sachs raised its stance on the stock of to British payments processor to "buy" from "neutral".

Hikma Pharmaceuticals fell 2.2 percent, having been down as much as 20 percent, after saying it would now pay $535 million less than an earlier offer to buy Boehringer Ingelheim's U.S. generic drugs business after due diligence revealed revenue would be lower than expected.

ARM Holdings (LSE: ARM.L - news) fell 3.5 percent after the British chip designer, whose technology powers smartphones, reported results that included a 17 percent rise in fourth-quarter profit.

Some brokers said that on an underlying basis, earnings just missed estimates, while others highlighted the risky outlook for the global economy. (Editing by Keith Weir)