Standard Life helps FTSE to edge higher, focus on Greece

* Blue-chip FTSE 100 index rises 0.25 percent

* Standard Life (LSE: SL.L - news) gains after profit rise, dividend hike

* Trade cautious ahead of Greece meeting

By Atul Prakash

LONDON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index edged up to trade near a 15-year high on Friday, with insurer Standard Life gaining on the back of encouraging earnings and energy shares tracking crude oil prices.

However, investors remained cautious about talks to strike a deal on Greece's debts.

Standard Life rose 3 percent after its operating profit jumped 19 percent to 604 million pounds ($932 million) and it announced a bigger than expected final dividend.

Energy stocks gained after oil prices rose back above $60 a barrel on Friday. The UK Oil and Gas index was up 0.5 percent, helped by a 3.1 percent rise in Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW.L - news) and a 1.5 percent firmer BG Group (LSE: BG.L - news) .

Investors avoided strong positive bets before a meeting of euro zone finance ministers later on Friday, with Greece and its creditors still far apart over the country's lending programme.

Germany has rejected a Greek proposal for a six-month extension to its euro zone loan agreement, saying it is "not a substantial solution" because it does not commit Athens to stick to the conditions of its international bailout.

"I don't see much chance of a further upside while we are still waiting for a resolution here," Chris Beauchamp, analyst at IG (LSE: IGG.L - news) said.

"But I believe that eventually all concerned parties will agree on a face-saving deal and that could result in a euphoric share market reaction. Over the coming months, the bias firmly remains on the upside."

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was up 0.25 percent at 6,906.02 points by 1101 GMT, just below a 15-year high of 6,921.32 hit on Wednesday and a record peak of 6,950.60 scaled in late 1999.

On the downside, Kingfisher (LSE: KGF.L - news) dropped 2.2 percent after Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) downgraded the home improvement retailer to "underweight" from "equal weight".

"Kingfisher's earnings momentum has been negative for some time and ahead of the new CEO's business update we believe it will remain so as underlying business trends don't seem to have improved," analysts at Barclays said in a note.

"We expect earnings estimates to continue being under pressure hence we expect shares to continue to underperform the market in line with negative earnings revisions." (Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Alison Williams)