* Pharmaceutical and tobacco firms help lift index
* Miners and oils pressured by falls in commodity prices
* Wolseley big riser after above-forecast results
By Harpreet Bhal
LONDON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Britain's leading share index was up 0.4 percent by midday on Monday, as gains in drugmakers and tobacco firms outweighed weakness in miners and energy firms which came under pressure from falling commodity prices.
At 1129 GMT, the FTSE 100 added 19.68 points or 0.4 percent at 5,101.88, after closing marginally higher at 5,082.20 on Friday.
Pharmaceutical firms were higher, spurred on by M&A activity in the sector, notably Belgium's Solvay selling its pharma business.
AstraZeneca rose 2.7 percent as traders cited talk that of Swiss Rival Novartis could be considering a takover offer, although a London-based trader called the story "unlikely".
GlaxoSmithKline rose 0.8 percent. The drugmaker has completed an innovative 1.5 billion euro contract with Brazil, guaranteeing sales of its pneumococcal vaccine Synflorix over the entire life of the product, the Financial Times said.
Analysts said gains were being kept in check by a lack of macroeconomic data on Monday, as investors wait for the final reading of second quarter UK Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures on Tuesday and U.S. nonfarm payrolls numbers at the end of the weak for further direction.
"We're between (company) reporting seasons so the excitement is going to be on the macro data. We have got UK GDP figures tomorrow and non-farm payrolls on Friday so things will hot up," said Tim Hughes, head of sales trading at IG Index.
Tobacco firms were higher, with Imperial Tobacco up 0.8 percent as Investec raised its target price for ther firm to 1,910 pence from 1,630 pence. Peer British American Tobacco put on 1.4 percent.
Wolseley made it to the top of the FTSE 100 gainers list, adding 10.6 percent following above-forecast full-year results from the plumbing supllies firm which prompted Deutsche Bank to upgrade its rating on the stock to "buy" from "hold".
Mid cap peer Travis Perkins was the top FTSE 250 riser, up 4.8 percent.
On the downside, lower metals prices weighed on mining stocks. Anglo American, Antofagasta, Eurasian Natural Resources , Kazakhmys, Rio Tinto and Vedanta Resources shed 0.8 to 1.8 percent.
The sector was also pressured by comments made by the head of Anglo American who said commodities growth in China, which has a huge appetite for resources, may ease over the short-term, though longer term the country's fundamentals were sound.
Energy stocks were mixed with oil prices slipping below $66 a barrel as investors focused on the halting economic recovery in the United States and shrugging off escalating tensions between Iran and the West.
BP and Royal Dutch Shell added 0.2 and 0.3 percent, respectively, while BG Group, Cairn Energy and Tullow Oil shed 0.3 to 1.8 percent
BANKS MIXED
Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland both slid around 1.9 percent, as investors fretted about possible right issues from UK banks, traders said, after Nomura announced a $5.6 billion share sale plan last week.
A broker downgrade also weighed on Royal Bank of Scotland with ING cutting its recommendation on the stock to "sell" from "hold".
Also, RBS will break up RBS Asset Management by selling the majority of the 50 billion pounds ($79.94 billion) division as part of a series of fund raising moves, the Daily Telegraph said on Saturday.
Standard Chartered, however, rose 1.6 percent, helped by an RBS target price hike to 2,000 pence from 1,600. HSBC and Barclays rose 1.2 and 0.3 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, data showed the annual drop in house prices in England and Wales eased to 5.6 percent in September from 6.7 percent in August, the slowest annual pace of decline since August 2008, property data company Hometrack said. (Editing by Hans Peters)