* Banks strong; HSBC, Barclays results please
* Miners, oils gain; commodity prices firm
By David Brett
LONDON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Britain's leading share index advanced 1.3 percent in early trade on Monday in a charge led by banks, following results from HSBC and Barclays, and supported by miners and oil stocks.
At 0858 GMT, the FTSE 100 was 60.09 points higher at 4,668.45. The index closed down 23.25 points on Friday at 4,608.36, but still had its best weekly performance since April 2003, reaching a 7-month high on Thursday.
Banks provided the biggest boost early on as investors welcomed first-half numbers from HSBC and Barclays.
HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, reported a pretax profit for the six months to the end of June of $5.02 billion, down from $10.2 billion a year earlier but just ahead of an average forecast of $4.9 billion from 11 analysts polled by Reuters.
Barclays fell short of expectations with an 8 percent rise in half-year profit as bad debts at Britain's second biggest bank almost doubled to offset buoyant earnings from its enlarged investment bank.
"Barclays' numbers came in below estimates but they have to be put in perspective. They're better than last year. HSBC is more of a traditional bank and potentially that is better news overall for the banking sector, surprising on the upside," said Keith Bowman, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
But he counselled that optimism should be treated with caution because these two banks avoided government intervention during the financial crisis. HSBC shares gained 5.7 percent, Barclays added 6.7 percent, while Lloyds Banking Group, scheduled to release its figures on Wednesday, firmed 0.7 percent, and Royal Bank of Scotland, which reports on Friday, added 2.2 percent.
Strength in heavyweight commodity issues was also a feature. Miners were buoyed by rallying metal prices, as copper hit a 10-month high.
Randgold Resources, Xstrata, Kazakhmys, Rio Tinto, Anglo American, and Vedanta Resources added 2.4 to 4.1 percent.
Energy stocks also rebounded as crude pushed above $70 a barrel, following further pointers from China that economic recovery was picking up.
BG Group, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Cairn Energy and Tullow Oil were up between 0.5 and 2.8 percent.
Oil and gas services firm Petrofac added 8.1 percent, the top gainer on the FTSE 100, as UBS raised its recommendation to "buy" from "neutral" and upped its price target to 1,000 pence from 610 pence.
Pharmaceuticals bounced back from Friday's sell-off, with AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and Shire climbing 0.3-0.5 percent.
Shire received a boost after it announced its new Gaucher disease drug velaglucerase alfa has moved closer to market following positive Phase III trial results.
But other perceived defensive stocks were weak as the market's risk appetite surfaced again, with tobaccos, food producers, and utilities among the worst performing sectors.
Gas firm Centrica was the top FTSE 100 faller, down 2 percent, while Unilever shed 1.5 percent, and British American Tobacco fell 1.1 percent, impacted by an RBS downgrade to "hold" from "buy" after recent results.
Life insurers were also out of favour. Aviva shed 1.9 percent following reports in the weekend press it may cut its first-half dividend.
Legal & General dipped 1.2 percent after the Independent on Sunday said the firm is expected to face calls from shareholders to raise cash when it announces its interim results on Tuesday.
British manufacturing activity grew for the first time last month since March 2008. The headline manufacturing purchasing managers' index rose to 50.8 from an upwardly revised 47.4 in June, according to the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply. This was well above expectations of a rise to 47.7. (Editing by David Cowell)