UK's FTSE steady as Billiton offsets fall in Vodafone

* FTSE 100 steady, remains in sight of all-time highs

* BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) rises after H1 results beat forecasts

* Broker downgrade hits Vodafone shares

By Sudip Kar-Gupta

LONDON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Britain's top equity index was steady in sight of record highs on Tuesday, as a rise in the shares of miner BHP Billiton offset a fall in mobile operator Vodafone.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was flat at 6,913.19 points in early session trading - below its record high of 6,950.60 points set in late December 1999.

Vodafone was the worst-performing FTSE 100 stock in percentage terms, falling 2.2 percent which traders attributed to a decision by Bank of America Merrill Lynch to downgrade the company to "underperform" from "neutral".

Oil shares such as BP and Royal Dutch Shell (Xetra: R6C1.DE - news) were also pegged back as the price of oil fell towards $58 a barrel.

However, mining shares were boosted by BHP Billiton's shares rising 3.4 percent. Billiton posted a 31 percent drop in half-year profit, yet its results still came in above market forecasts.

Hantec Markets' analyst Richard Perry said he was beginning to believe the FTSE will start to rise more, although it could still be held back by the weak oil price.

Thames Capital Markets' senior trader Gerren O'Neill expected the FTSE to eventually hit a record high of 7,000 points but added it was hard to buy into the market at present, given lingering uncertainty over Greece's economic situation.

Greece sent a list of economic reform plans to European institutions and the International Monetary Fund that was "a valid starting point" for talks over its bailout, a source close to the European Commission said on Tuesday.

"We are cautiously optimistic but we could see an initial pullback before we then challenge those all-time highs," O'Neill said. (Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)