* FTSE 100 up 2.3 percent
* ARM climbs on Intel results read-across
* BP up on oil spill anniversary; JPMorgan bullish
By Tricia Wright
LONDON, April 20 (Reuters) - Earnings optimism helped lift Britain's top shares on Wednesday, with ARM Holdings up on the back of strong results from U.S. tech bellwether Intel, as volumes are seen thinning as we approach Easter.
By 1118 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 134.29 points, or 2.3 percent, at 6,031.16, building on a 0.5-percent gain in the previous session after Monday's 2.1-percent drop.
"We're getting decent earnings numbers around the world, which is one of the key factors (driving the market). We've also had a few wobbly sessions of late, so we're getting some normalisation," Peter Dixon, an economist at Commerzbank, said.
However, he added that we might see a reversal on Thursday, as investors seek to limit their exposure given expected light volumes over the next fortnight which is studded with public holidays.
ARM climbed 4.2 percent, mirroring gains from technology stocks across Europe, after Intel late on Tuesday posted a 25 percent jump in first-quarter revenue to $12.8 billion, beating analysts' average estimate of $11.6 billion according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
CHINA BOOST
Buyers came in for the miners, as copper prices rallied, and gold shot up above $1,500 an ounce for the first time ever, supported by a weak dollar.
The mood was helped by a China Conference Board leading index, released overnight, which analysts from Shore Capital say appears to be troughing, a sign that the pace of slowdown in the Chinese economy is moderating.
"The mining sector, which performed well in the second half of 2010 and has eased back due to fears over Chinese monetary tightening, should start to pick up market leadership, in our view," Shore Capital says in a note.
Despite trading ex-dividend, Xstrata rose 3.9 percent as JPMorgan lifted its rating to "overweight", following the announcement by Glencore (which owns about 34 percent of Xstrata) of its intention to float on the London Stock Exchange.
BP, on the first anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, advanced 3.3 percent, as the same broker repeated its "overweight" rating on the stock, which "has returned to a very deep value situation".
Positive broker comment also helped spur a 4.4-percent advance in GKN, with RBC Capital Markets upgrading its rating for the automotive and aerospace parts manufacturer to "outperform" from "sector perform".
Good gains were also seen from DIY retailer Kingfisher, up 4 percent, after midcap peer Home Retail reported in-line results, sending its shares 5.1 percent higher.
Banks rose, with the improvement in sentiment on the back of upbeat corporate results outweighing worries over sovereign debt on both sides of the Atlantic, with S&P having cut its U.S. credit outlook to negative earlier in the week.
BAE Systems, Legal & General, Reed Elsevier and Resolution were the only blue-chip fallers, all down after going ex-dividend.
Joshua Raymond, market strategist at City Index, said: "I can't see us breaking out of our (250-300 point) range at the moment. Every time we've hit 6,100 for instance, there hasn't been enough to push us through." (Additional reporting by Jon Hopkins; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)