By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks rose Monday, with Tesco PLC helping drive the FTSE 100 benchmark to a third consecutive advance, but commodity shares lagged behind the broader market.

The FTSE 100 picked up 0.5% to 6,585.53, edging back into positive territory on a year-to-date basis, according to FactSet data. The London benchmark rose alongside other European markets as investors eyed the prospect of sovereign bond buying by the European Central Bank.

Among the shares riding higher on the FTSE were Travis Perkins PLC and Tesco , closed up by 4.3% and 1.5%, respectively. The building-materials supplier's rating was upgraded to overweight from neutral at J.P. Morgan Cazenove, while the supermarket chain was upgraded to overweight from equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.

Tesco "has scope to materially improve its U.K. operations," said Morgan Stanley. This, combined with a refocusing of its asset portfolio, should see the retailer's shares outperform in the next 12 months, its analysts said. Morgan Stanley raised its price-target on the stock to GBP2.60 and said its "bull-case" target is GBP3.30.

J.P. Morgan said Travis Perkins is a "high-quality play on a U.K. housing market in the early stages of recovery." Initiatives that have been under way at the company should "start delivering meaningful returns" and medium-term cash generation will become an increasing focus over the 12 months to 24 months, the analysts said.

In a busy day at J.P. Morgan Cazenove, analysts on Monday cut ratings on a clutch of major oil companies. Royal Dutch Shell PLC was cut to neutral from overweight, and BP PLC to underweight from neutral. BP shares fell 1.1%, while Shell's were fractionally lower.

But shares of BG Group PLC swung higher by 0.3%, as its shares were raised to neutral from overweight by J.P. Morgan.

Oil futures declined Monday as J.P. Morgan slashed its price forecasts and investors braced for another week of potential market upheaval.

Mining stocks were also lower Monday, as prices for a number of metals fell. Glencore PLC lost 1.9%, Anglo American PLC declined 0.9% and Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) shed 1.1%.

BHP Billiton PLC (BHP) shares were off 1.4% following a Reuters report that the miner may have to cut $4 billion in planned spending on U.S. shale wells. The report said BHP may also write down shale assets as it grapples with falling prices for key metals, including iron ore and copper.

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