UK March consumer sentiment hits highest since mid-2007 - GfK

LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) - British consumer sentiment rose in March to its highest level since around the start of the financial crisis in 2007, a survey from researchers GfK (Frankfurt: GFK.F - news) showed on Friday.

GfK's headline consumer confidence index rose to -5 this month, its highest reading since August 2007, from -7 in February. Economists polled by Reuters expected a rise to -6.

The index has risen over the last year by 22 points - the largest increase since November 2008 to October 2009.

"The current long-term trend is very strongly positive," said Nick Moon, managing director of social research at GfK.

"People are now on balance more positive than negative about their own financial prospects over the next year, and it is unlikely that anything announced in the recent (government) budget will reverse this."

British finance minister George Osborne courted voters ahead of an election in 2015 with a budget that promised help for savers, tax breaks for manufacturers and lower levies on beer and bingo.

The March consumer confidence reading beat the -9 lifetime average of the survey, which dates back to 1974.

Consumer demand and an upturn in the housing market have so far been the main drivers of Britain's economic recovery, with strong retail sales numbers on Thursday suggesting this continued into the first quarter of the year.

But there are signs the rebound is starting to broaden out.

Economists polled by Reuters expect the final reading of fourth-quarter economic growth, due at 0930 GMT, will remain unchanged at 0.7 percent. But the release will offer more insight on how trade and business investment contributed to growth at the end of last year.

GfK's survey of people aged over 16 was conducted from Feb. 28 to March 16, and was carried out by GfK on behalf of the European Commission.

For a detailed table of results, see (Reporting by Andy Bruce; Editing by Susan Fenton)