South Africa-exposed stocks help FTSE to bounce back

* Blue (OTC BB: BUES - news) -chip FTSE 100 rise 0.8 percent

* Old Mutual (Other OTC: ODMTY - news) surges as rand bounces back

* Miners track weaker metals prices

By Atul Prakash

LONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index rebounded on Monday after reaching 10-week lows in the previous session, with South Africa-focused stocks surging on hopes the appointment of a new finance minister will stabilise stock and currency markets there.

Old Mutual, which slumped nearly 22 percent last week, climbed 10 percent after President Jacob Zuma named widely respected Pravin Gordhan as South Africa's third finance minister in a week. The dramatic U-turn sent the rand 5 percent higher after it hit a new all-time low on Friday.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Investec (LSE: INVP.L - news) and Mondi (LSE: MNDI.L - news) , which are also exposed to Africa, rose 9.6 percent and 3 percent respectively after the South African currency rebounded after falling about 9 percent last week.

"The rand's recovery is a good news for South Africa-exposed stocks such as Old Mutual. Investors hope that the appointment of a new finance minister will ease the political tension in the country and give some stability to the markets," Keith Bowman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown (LSE: HL.L - news) , said.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was up 0.8 percent at 5,997.71 points by 0935 GMT after falling for seven sessions in a row. The benchmark index is still down about 9 percent so far this year.

Miners came under pressure as prices of key metals, including copper and gold, fell. Shares in BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) , Glencore (Xetra: A1JAGV - news) and Randgold Resources were down 0.4 to 1.9 percent.

BP fell 0.5 percent, underperforming the broader market, as the company faces a class action lawsuit in Mexico over its deadly 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which a civic group on Friday said it had filed against the company.

Among mid-cap companies, UK power supplier Drax rose 7.6 percent after Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) upgraded the stock by two notches to "buy" from "sell" and raised its target price for the company to 260 pence from 245 pence. (Reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Catherine Evans)