FTSE scores worst October since 1987

By Rebekah Curtis

LONDON (Reuters) - Commodity stocks powered the top share index to a 2-percent gain on Friday and its strongest week on record, but the benchmark still bowed out of October with the worst monthly loss since the 1987 market crash.

The FTSE 100 .FTSE ended 85.69 points higher at 4,377.34, notching up a gain of 12.7 percent on the week.

However, the index is still down nearly 10.7 percent in October and 32 percent so far this year.

Shares worldwide tumbled for most of October, before a spate of interest-rate cuts helped spur a recovery.

"It could be many years before we see another month like that," said Darren Winder, an equity strategist at Cazenove.

"It's not just the scale of the correction, it's the way that it's happened. It's been teasing investors in, and once they've got in the markets duly sank again."

Oil and gas producers led gains, with BP (BP.L) up 2.6 percent, Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) adding 3.8 percent and Cairn Energy (CNE.L) up 3.5 percent.

Miners also surged, with Xstrata (XTA.L), Vedanta Resources (VED.L) and Anglo American rising between 6.5 and 9.9 percent.