FTSE up on third day of gains

British finance minister Alistair Darling said G20 policymakers are agreed that it is too early to pull the plug on economic life-support packages, as the global recovery is still fragile.

SHINING GOLD

Gold, which is often used by investors as an alternative to the dollar, surged to a record high above $1,100 per ounce, helping to lift London-listed mining issues.

Antofagasta , up 1.6 percent, was also helped by a Citigroup upgrade to "buy," while Rio Tinto , Eurasian Natural Resources , Xstrata and Kazakhmys added 0.5 to 2 percent.

On the downside, oil majors were the main drag on the FTSE 100 after a rally on Thursday, and were also weighed down as the price of crude fell on demand fears following the payroll data.

BP , BG Group and Royal Dutch Shell were all off between 0.6 and 1.6 percent.

Among individual movers, Rentokil Initial shed 6.3 percent as a third-quarter trading update from the pest control to parcel delivery firm failed to excite.

British Airways gained 6.7 percent as investors welcomed second-quarter results from the airline, with BofA Merrill Lynch repeating its "buy" rating on the stock.

"The market needs a spark. There's no real momentum either way at the moment and unless we get some unexpected economic or corporate news we could be treading water up until Christmas, which would be disappointing," said Yates.

(Editing by Simon Jessop)