* Energy stocks biggest laggards as crude slips
* Lloyds Banking Group only riser in weak banking sector
* Telecoms boosted by AT&T read-across
By Paul Sandle
LONDON, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index closed 1 percent down on Thursday, coming off earlier lows, as weaker crude and metals weighed on energy stocks and miners.
The FTSE 100 ended 50.49 points lower at 5,207.36, having come off earlier lows of 5,166.46 but struggling around the 5,200 level.
"All stock markets are looking like they have run out of a bit of steam," said David Morrison, market strategist at GFT Global.
The UK benchmark has rallied more than 50 percent since hitting a low in early March, and is up 17 percent this year.
Energy stocks suffered with crude slipping below $81 a barrel as a stronger dollar encouraged investors to take profits from a 12-month high hit on Wednesday.
BP, Royal Dutch Shell and BG Group dropped 1.4 to 1.5 percent.
On Wall Street stocks were mixed, with the Nasdaq lower but the S&P 500 and the Dow Industrials positive, as data showing new jobless claims rose more than expected offset some generally positive earnings reports.
"The U.S earnings season hasn't really helped to push markets forward and neither has any of the data that has been coming out," said Morrison.
Disappointment that Chinese growth data, though robust, offered few surprises and a background of softer metals prices weighed on the mining sector.
Antofagasta, Fresnillo, Kazakhmys and Randgold Resources fell 1.8 to 3.8 percent.
Banks were also in the doldrums, following weakness on Wednesday in their U.S. peers after an influential bank analyst recommended selling Wells Fargo shares, and Britain's financial watchdog issued a raft of proposals to reform the industry on Thursday.
Heavyweight HSBC shed 1.8 percent, with Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered falling between 0.7 and 1.6 percent.
Lloyds Banking Group, however, put on 3.6 percent to top the FTSE leaderboard, on talk that it was close to securing backing for a cash call.
Lloyds is planning to launch a rights issue and refinancing next week provided it can persuade regulators and the government to agree to a deal before the weekend, the Financial Times said.
TELECOMS RING UP GAINS
Index heavyweight Vodafone, up 3.4 percent, was boosted by U.S. telecoms peer AT&T, which posted better-than-expected third-quarter profit. The stock was also pushed up by a big "long-only buyer", traders said.
Fixed-line operator BT Group was up 1.5 percent.
On the second tier, pub groups notched up good gains, with Enterprise Inns, Punch Taverns and Marstons up 23 percent, 14.8 percent and 3 percent respectively, after the Office of Fair Trading gave the go-ahead for the industry to continue operating its "beer tie" arrangement.
British retail sales failed to grow for a second month running in September, official data showed on Thursday, confounding expectations for a 0.5 percent rise.
Shares in Next and Marks & Spencer fell 0.9 and 1.6 percent, respectively, while mid cap department store group Debenhams lost 0.6 percent although it posted full-year profits towards the top end of expectations. (Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)