* Lloyds Banking Group leads gains in banks
* Energy firms fall; crude steadies below $80
* WPP rises after better-than-expected revenue
By Harpreet Bhal
LONDON, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Gains by miners and banks helped Britain's leading shares rise 0.6 percent in early trade on Friday, offsetting weakness in heavyweight energy stocks, while advertising firm WPP rose after upbeat third-quarter results.
The index also gained traction from a rebound in Asian stocks a day after the U.S. posted a 3.5 percent rise in gross domestic product for the third quarter, signalling the country's exit from the recession.
At 0919 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 29.52 points at 5,167.24, having risen 1.1 percent the previous session, lifted by the U.S. growth data.
The benchmark index is up 49 percent since hitting a low in March. After three straight months of hefty gains from July to September the index looks set to edge in to positive territory for the month of October.
"We have had such an unprecedented rally that it is going to reach a plateau at some point and at the moment we're coming to an end of our sweet spot," said Philip Gillett, sales trader at IG Index.
WPP group rose 4.5 after the advertising firm posted a smaller-than-expected fall in third-quarter like-for-like revenue and said it would improve profitability in the second half.
Lloyds Banking Group rose 6.3 percent, benefiting from plans to raise capital as an alternative to a government-backed scheme to insure bad debts.
Royal Bank of Scotland, also thought to be looking at plans to reduce its exposure to the government's asset protection scheme, was up 3.4 percent while Barclays, HSBC and Standard Chartered were up 0.1 to 1.5 percent.
Among miners, Anglo American, Kazakhmys, Xstrata and Vedanta Resources put on between 1 and 1.6 percent but gains were capped by a retreat in metals prices after the previous session's rally on the back of U.S. economic growth figures.
Rio Tinto added 3.1 percent after saying it planned to double its capital expenditure next year to at least $5 billion and saw signs of economic recovery.
On the downside, oil majors took the most points off the index with crude prices steadying below $80 a barrel after a 3 percent jump in the previous session. BG Group, BPL and Royal Dutch Shell shed 0.2 to 0.7 percent.
Drugmakers were also on the back foot, with GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca, which both reported earnings this week, shedding 1.4 and 0.6 percent respectively. Shire bucked the trend to rise 1.6 percent ahead of the release of its third-quarter results at 1200 GMT.
U.S. INFLATION EYED
Later in the session, focus will turn to a slew of economic data from the U.S., including Federal Reserve's favoured measure of inflation.
September personal income and consumption numbers are due at 1230 GMT and the core PCE price index is seen rising 0.2 percent, after a 0.1 percent rise in August.
Also set for release later in the session are the New York October ISM index, Chicago October PMI report, and the final reading for the October University of Michigan consumer sentiment index.
Helping to support positive sentiment in the market, British house prices rose for a sixth month running in October to register their first annual gain since early 2008, the Nationwide Building Society said.
Meanwhile British consumer confidence rose in October to its highest level since January 2008, after improvements in households' financial situation and a view of the past 12 months, a monthly survey by GfK NOP showed.
(editing by John Stonestreet)