UK's FTSE flat as commodities prices weigh on oil stocks, miners

* Blue (OTC BB: BUES - news) -chip FTSE 100 flat

* Miners track weaker metals prices

* Oil stocks fall as oil price weakens

* Old Mutual (Other OTC: ODMTY - news) surges as rand bounces back (Recasts, adds quote and detail, updates prices)

By Kit Rees and Atul Prakash

LONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index came under pressure on Monday, touching new 10-week lows, pulled down by a drop in oil companies and miners following a weakening in commodity prices.

The prices of key metals, including copper and gold, fell as the dollar rose. The price of oil neared levels not seen since 2008 on additional fears that the global oil glut would worsen in the months to come.

"The oil price taking another leg down isn't helping, it's bringing down some of the heavyweights ... and then continuing to weigh on the commodities sector," Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, said.

Royal Dutch Shell (Xetra: R6C1.DE - news) fell 1.6 percent, while BP was down 1.7 percent 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.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in miners BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) , Glencore (Xetra: A1JAGV - news) and Randgold Resources were down 0.8 to 2.4 percent.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was flat in percentage terms at 5,954.99 points by 1325 GMT after falling for seven sessions in a row.

The benchmark index is still down about 9 percent so far this year, and touched a low of 5,939.21 earlier in the session, its lowest level since Sept 30.

In positive territory, South Africa-exposed insurance company Old Mutual, which slumped nearly 22 percent last week, climbed more than 7 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 in Investec (LSE: INVP.L - news) and Mondi (LSE: MNDI.L - news) , which are also exposed to Africa, rose 7 percent and 1.6 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.

Among mid-cap companies, UK power supplier Drax rose 3.5 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. (Editing by Andrew Heavens)