The top shares closed up on Tuesday, as miners gained on firmer U.S. economic data which eased investor anxiety on the global economic recovery, while ARM Holdings jumped on renewed takeover talk.

The FTSE 100 <.FTSE> gained 23.66 points, or 0.5 percent at 5,225.22, adding to the 0.9 percent gain on Friday, as UK traders returned to their desks after a public holiday on Monday.

U.S. consumer confidence rose modestly in August, lifted by a mild improvement in the short-term outlook, while the Standard & Poor's/Case Shiller home price indexes showed prices of U.S. single-family homes rose more than expected in June.

These data helped push U.S. Stocks higher, and led to a slight improvement in the demand outlook which helped UK-listed miners gain ground.

Fresnillo and Rio Tinto added 3.2 and 2.4 percent respectively.

Traders said that moves lacked conviction and that trading was set to remain thin and volatile until well into September when investors return from their summer break.

The market's like a headless chicken, said David Buik, senior partner at BGC Partners.

There are plenty of reasons not to sell, like strong yields and healthy balance sheets, but there are plenty of reasons not to buy which is why people are jumping on every piece of news.

ARM Holdings was the star performer, up 8.6 percent, and at its highest daily close since 2002 lifted by renewed takeover talk after Intel bought Infineon's wireless unit.

The $1.7 billion (£1.1 billion) deal returned the M&A spotlight to the sector and represented news for the British company in the short-term as Intel indicated it will continue to support the ARM chip designs as used by Infineon.

The market was down in early trade, with weak mortgage lending data adding to the negative tone as total net lending fell to its lowest since March, Bank of England figures showed.

MIXED BAG

However the data was not all negative as there was an unexpected rise in British mortgage approvals and consumer credit in July.

The UK data came after U.S. President Barack Obama fell short of addressing worries the recovery is faltering, and the Bank of Japan's emergency moves failed to curb the yen's strength.

Energy stocks were among the biggest drags on the index, pressured as crude fell below $73 per barrel.

Outsourcing company Serco fell 2.5 percent as BofA Merrill Lynch cut its rating to neutral from buy ahead of the UK spending review in October.

British distributor Bunzl , which supplies carrier bags, take-away boxes and hard hats, gained 1.3 percent after it beat forecasts with an 8 percent rise in first-half profit after completing two acquisitions and signalling it would buy more in the coming year.

A growing belief among British investment managers that fears of a renewed economic slump are overblown has halted a five-month decline in allocations to stocks, according to a Reuters poll.

The survey of 11 British fund managers polled on asset allocations in August shows the average exposure to equities jumped more than 3 percentage points from a month earlier.

(Editing by Mike Nesbit)

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