* FTSE 100 up 0.7 pct at midday * Oils, miners provide strength on commodity price rises * Banks, property issues rally helped by Bolton comments By Jon Hopkins LONDON, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Britain's leading share index was up 0.7 percent at midday supported by gains in commodity issues and expectations for opening gains on Wall street on hopes of a government lifeline for the struggling U.S. auto industry. By 1146 GMT, the FTSE 100 .FTSE was up 31.90 points, or 0.7 percent at 4,312.25, below an earlier peak of 4,340.70. The UK blue chip index gained 5.7 percent last week but is still down nearly 33 percent for the year. "There is not a lot going on today," said Richard Hunter, head of UK equities at broker Hargreaves Landsdowne, "with investors having a raft of economic data to look ahead to later this week, notably UK inflation numbers". "There is also a bit of a drag from the Madoff situation," Hunter added, referring to Wall Street trader Bernard Madoff's alleged $50 billion fraud, "which has taken a bit of the glean off the market." Energy stocks rose along with firmer crude prices CLc1, up over $2 a barrel ahead of this week's OPEC meeting, with the cartel widely expected to sanction production cuts. BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) advanced 1.9 percent, Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) put on 1.6 percent, BG Group (BG.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) climbed 3.7 percent, Cairn Energy (CNE.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) added 5.1 percent. Stronger metal prices also boosted heavyweight miners, with Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Xstrata (XTA.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Kazakhmys (KAZ.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Rio Tinto (RIO.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and BHP Billiton (BLT.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) up between 3.3 and 5.5 percent. Rio described as speculation a newspaper report claiming it was talking to banking advisers about a potential $9 billion rights issue in the first half of next year. [ID:nLN571252] U.S stocks were expected to open lower Monday after strong gains Friday on hopes for a rescue deal for the auto industry. BANKS, PROPERTY RALLY Banks and property stocks rallied. Fidelity International's Anthony Bolton told investors in an interview in the Sunday Times to prepare for an equities market rally led by banking and property shares in early 2009. HBOS (HBOS.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Barclays (BARC.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Lloyds TSB (LLOY.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Standard Chartered (STAN.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) all put on 1.4 to 12.4 percent.

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