FTSE up 0.8 percent in early trade

By Harpreet Bhal

LONDON (Reuters) - Shares climbed in early trade on Monday, on course to rise for the sixth straight day, tracking gains in Asia as a last-minute $3 billion (1.8 billion pound) rescue of U.S. CIT Group CIT.N lifted sentiment.

By 9:11 a.m. the FTSE 100 .FTSE rose 36.79 points, or 0.8 percent at 4,425.54, after posting its best weekly rise since early January at Friday's close.

Stocks were lifted after shares in Asia rose to a 10-month high, the best performance since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, as strong U.S. corporate earnings spurred optimism about the pace of global economic recovery.

Banks were the biggest gainers on the index, with Barclays (BARC.L), HSBC (HSBA.L), Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) rising between 1.2 percent and 5.9 percent.

Jim Wood-Smith, head of research at Williams de Broe, said the FTSE 100 could drift higher yet as investors with large amounts of cash move into the market.

"Ordinarily we would argue there is not enough in the news flow nor in the value of the market for there to be a strong run from here," he said.

"But knowing the levels of cash that most people are supposed to be holding one has to suspect that holders of cash are going to be forced to come back into the market and that is going to drive prices upwards."

The market also drew support from data from property website Rightmove showing that the falls in property prices in England and Wales over the past year may have bottomed out.