FTSE flat early as commodities offset weak pharmas

* FTSE 100 flat * Firmer crude oil price, strong results lift energy stocks

* Taylor Wimpey H1 profit slumps, stock falls

By Dominic Lau

LONDON, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index was flat early on Wednesday as firmer metal and crude oil prices boosted commodity stocks, offsetting weakness in drugmakers.

By 0753 GMT, the FTSE 100 .FTSE was up 0.2 points at 5,470.9, after losing 0.6 percent on Tuesday.

The UK benchmark is down 15 percent for the year on fears of a recession fears, concerns over rising commodity prices and the impact of a global credit crunch on financial firms.

Energy stocks were in demand as crude prices CLc1 traded above $116 a barrel and after oil explorer Tullow Oil said net profit from continued activities more than doubled in the first half of the year to 126 million pounds helped by higher oil prices. Tullow Oil added nearly 2 percent.

Oil and gas services firm Petrofac also reported better-than-expected first-half results as net profit jumped 57 percent from a year ago, helped by strong demand. Petrofac shares were 1.4 percent higher.

BP , Royal Dutch Shell , gas producer BG Group and Cairn Energy put on 0.2 to 0.9 percent.

Firmer copper prices lifted miners, with Rio Tinto , BHP Billiton , Anglo American , Vedanta Resources and Ferrexpo gaining 0.9 to 1.5 percent.

Antofagasta posted an 8.8 percent rise in first-half earnings per share as higher copper output and prices outweighed rising costs. Its stock was up 0.9 percent.

"We have some reasonably big companies reporting today, the likes of Antofagasta and Tullow Oil, but in some way no great surprises. The stocks are reacting as you might expect," said Tim Hughes, head of sales trading.

Hughes said trading volume was light as many traders and fund managers were away on holiday, leaving the market with little direction.

Investors are likely to shift their focus to U.S. durable goods data for July, due at 1230 GMT, for a further gauge on the health of the world's largest economy.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said 117 U.S. banks were on its troubled banks list at the end of the second quarter, up from 90 after the first three months of the year.

In the UK, banks were firmer with Barclays , HSBC , HBOS and Standard Chartered all higher.

Royal Bank of Scotland advanced 0.9 percent. The bank appointed three new directors in a long-awaited board change it hopes will ease shareholder concerns over governance that surfaced after its 12 billion pound cash call.

TAYLOR WIMPEY FALLS

Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey slumped 12 percent after the mid-cap firm reported a sharp fall in first-half profit and said it was scrapping its interim dividend due to challenging market conditions in the UK, U.S. and Spain.

Other housebuilders also took a beating, with Persimmon shedding 2.7 percent, Bovis Homes losing 3.9 percent and Barratt Developments dropping 2 percent.

Drugmakers also suffered as traders said investors moved away from the sector, which has been the best performer in Europe so far this year. GlaxoSmithKline lost 1.3 percent and AstraZeneca dipped 0.8 percent.

Mid-cap Taylor Nelson Sofres slipped 1.7 percent after Germany's GfK said it had given up its attempt on a takeover offer. The UK market research firm reported underlying revenue growth of 5.1 percent for the first half.

Liberty International , Capita Group , InterContinental Hotels and Admiral Group fell after going ex-dividend.

BSkyB rose 1.5 percent after Goldman Sachs added the stock to its "conviction buy list".

Enterprise Inns dropped 3.7 percent to top the FTSE 100 losers after Cazenove downgraded Britain's second-biggest pubs group to "underperform" from "in-line".

(Editing by Erica Billingham)