* Miners, energy stocks slide on weaker commodity prices * Banks weaker, Barclays BGI sale weighs
* Political uncertainty dents sentiment
By Farah Master
LONDON, June 8 (Reuters) - Energy and mining stocks depressed by weaker commodity prices helped push down Britain's top share index by 1.4 percent towards midday on Monday, while banks fell as market sentiment ebbed.
By 1015 GMT the FTSE 100 was down 61.26 points at 4,377.30 after closing 51.62 points or 1.2 percent higher at 4,438.56 on Friday buoyed by U.S. non-farm payrolls data.
The index is up nearly 27 percent since slumping to a six-year trough in March, but a return to caution over the economic outlook has led to renewed weakness in equities as investors lock in profits.
"We have seen a very sharp rise in less than 3 months in world markets full stop without any major bout of consolidation and I think what we could be seeing now is a short term reaction to that," said Mike Lenhoff chief strategist and head of research at Brewin Dolphin Securities.
Rio Tinto, Kazakhmys, Eurasian Natural Resources, Anglo American, Lonmin and BHP Billiton fell between 3.5 and 5.1 percent as commodity prices retreated, impacted by a strengthening dollar.
Oil and energy majors also dragged down the index tracking crude prices lower with BP, Royal Dutch Shell, BG Group, Tullow Oil and Cairn Energy down between 1.1 and 2.5 percent.
The political situation is also adding to negative sentiment for the market.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown came under more pressure after damaging European election results, adding to his woes after six senior government ministers quit the government last week.
"People may want to give the UK a bypass temporarily until these political issues are resolved but I am not sure that it is going to have a major impact on the FTSE 100," said Lenhoff.
However it is the fact that he looks to have ridden out the crisis that is hurting sentiment, analysts said.
"The fact that it now does not look likely that we will get an early election and possibly a change of government is casting a shadow over the market," Keith Bowman, equity strategist at Hargreaves Lansdown said.
Lloyds Banking Group was the heaviest faller, down 7.7 percent after it said it had raised just under 3.5 billion pounds from shareholders which it will use to pay back some of the money injected by the British government last year.
Barclays fell 1.6 percent after it said it is in talks to sell Barclays Global Investors, with U.S. fund manager, BlackRock the front runner according to people familiar with the matter.
Other banks, hurt by the slightly more negative sentiment, were also weaker. HSBC, Standard Chartered, Royal Bank of Scotland fell 0.7-1.5 percent.
Despite the more gloomy mood in the market, further evidence pointed to an improving economic outlook.
The recession in Britain is over for now, a slim majority of economists said in a poll published by the Financial Times on Monday.
Britain's businesses feel more confident about their prospects than at any other time in the past 12 months, Lloyds Banking Group's monthly "Business Barometer" shows, providing further evidence of improving sentiment in the economy as the slowdown at least bottoms out, the Independent said.
Rolls Royce was one of the top FTSE 100 gainers, up 0.8 percent after Goldman raised its rating to "neutral" from "sell" in a European aerospace and defence review.
(Reporting by Farah Master and Simon Falush; Editing by David Cowell)