* FTSE 100 index rallies 0.5 percent
* Miners bounce back after falls in previous session
* Pearson boosted by Exane BNP Paribas upgrade
LONDON Sept 21 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index rose in
early deals on Friday, tracking modest gains on Wall Street and
in Asia, though trading could turn volatile ahead of
'quadruple-witching' stock futures and options expiries due
around 0915 GMT.
At 0751 GMT, the FTSE 100 index was up 27.77 points,
or 0.5 percent, at 5,882.41, having shed 0.6 percent on
Thursday, with early volume at 7.4 percent of the 90-day daily
average.
"Volume and volatility is likely to pick up with the
'quadruple witching' today, when positions are adjusted and
settlements established," Andrew Crook, a trader at Sucden
Financial Private Clients said.
Expiries are due on monthly and quarterly stock and index
futures and options.
"Once that is out of the way, investors are likely to pause
for breath ahead of the weekend with the (central bank) stimulus
bounce probably worked through and fresh direction sought."
Miners, up 0.9 percent, led the bounce back as
copper rallied from a drop in the previous session,
spurred by hopes for major economies to continue stimulus moves
that could boost global demand for metals.
The sector was the worst performer on Thursday after weak
manufacturing data from top consumer China dented demand hopes.
PEARSON BOOSTED
Pearson was a big individual blue chip gainer, up
1.7 percent as Exane BNP Paribas upgraded its rating for the
British publishing group to "outperform" from "neutral", with an
21 percent hike in its target price to 210 pence.
"We turn more bullish on growth opportunities at Pearson
International Education and see the group as a key beneficiary
from the move to digital learning. In addition, we expect a
likely rebound in U.S. School in 2013," Exane said in a note.
Broker comment also accounted for the biggest FTSE 100
faller, with National Grid shedding 1.0 percent as
JPMorgan Cazenove cut its stance on the power group to
"underperform" from "neutral".
Regulatory decisions were due for its UK regulated
businesses in December, its Rhode Island businesses in January
and its upstate New York businesses in March.
"Early indications have not been positive with challenging
preliminary announcements in all three jurisdictions," JPMorgan
said in a note, recommending investors switch to water firm
Pennon in the UK.
Pennon shares gained 0.2 percent.
Some commentators remained cautious and expected fresh falls
on the FTSE 100 index, which was down 0.6 percent on the week
after hitting a six-month peak last Friday after the U.S.
Federal Reserve announced new stimulus measures.
"I'm still of the view that we're in the midst of a
correction after the 5 percent rise from 5 September," Mike van
Dulken, Head of Research at Accendo Markets, said.
Short-term graphs suggested "potential for the continued
fallback to 5,760. Not nice for those who are long, but nothing
out of the ordinary in the longer-term uptrend."
(Reporting by Jon Hopkins; Editing by John Stonestreet)
