* Index hits 4,800 for first time since early October
* Oil producers lead risers
By Dominic Lau
LONDON, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Britain's leading share index rose 1 percent close to midday on Friday, hitting a fresh intraday high for the year and making tracks for a fourth straight day of gains as heavyweight energy stocks led risers.
At 1031 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 49.16 points at 4,805.74, trading above 4,800 for the first time since early October.
The UK benchmark has advanced 2 percent so far this week, and is up 8.4 percent this year after rallying 39 percent since hitting a floor in early March.
"There is a lot of confidence that large-cap stocks ... are going to be able to generate profit (on) ... demand coming from stimulus programmes, and rising consumer demand that you are beginning to see from China and India," said Stephen Pope, chief global market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald.
"What you are seeing here is confirmation that any time since March, any selling has purely been people taking profit. They will come back to take up the slack and pick up more stocks. There is no return to March 9 lows." Oil producers were firmer as crude prices rose above $73 a barrel, extending a recent strong run after data this week showed a surprise drawdown in U.S. inventories.
BP, Royal Dutch Shell, BG Group and Cairn Energy added 1.4-2 percent.
Miners Fresnillo, Lonmin, Vedanta Resources, Xstrata, Rio Tinto and Anglo American put on 1-1.9 percent.
INSURERS, BANKS HIGH
Legal & General climbed 4.6 percent. Goldman Sachs reiterated its "conviction buy" on the life insurer in a sector review.
Peers Aviva, Old Mutual and Standard Life were up 2.1-3.2 percent.
Banks also rose, with Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group and Standard Chartered up 1-1.6 percent. Barclays was down 0.3 percent.
The market will keep a close eye on U.S. existing home sales data, due at 1400 GMT. A Reuters survey of 61 economists predicted sales of previously owned homes climbed to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5 million in July, the briskest pace since 5.1 million units were sold in September and up from 4.89 million units in June.
Investors will also look for more insight from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech later in the day on the outlook for the world's largest economy.
Drugmakers, which have lagged behind the broader market rally with only a 25 percent gain since March, were also in demand. GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Shire rose about 1.3 percent.
Software firm Sage, however, lost 0.8 percent after U.S. peer Intuit forecast 2010 earnings would be below analysts' estimates and saw tight economic conditions prevailing for at least another year.
(editing by John Stonestreet)