(Updates after markets close)

* FTSE 100 up 0.3%, FTSE 250 down 0.5%

* Burberry ( BBRYF ) slides as Middle East conflict hits tourist

spending

* Andy Burnham becomes British Labour Party leader

July 17 (Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 ended higher on Friday

as utilities shares rose and energy giants gained, tracking

higher crude oil prices amid escalating Middle East tensions,

while the focus was on politics as Andy Burnham became the

British Labour Party leader.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index gained 0.3% at 10,600.4

points, while the midcap FTSE 250 dipped 0.5% to snap a

six-day winning streak. Both indexes, however, clocked weekly

gains.

* The United States struck bridges and an airport in Iran,

provoking Tehran to respond by hitting a power and desalination

plant in Kuwait.

* Energy stocks gained 2.1% as oil prices

rose on concerns over supply disruptions.

* Utilities rose 2.7%, leading sectoral gains,

while food, beverages and tobacco added 1.6%.

* Higher crude oil prices weighed on travel and leisure

, which fell 0.9%.

* Financial stocks were weaker with banks

down 0.4%, while investment bank and brokerage services

shed 1.5%.

* Personal goods fell 5% after Burberry ( BBRYF )

warned that the conflict in the Middle East was hurting

tourist spending in Europe, sending shares in the British luxury

brand down 6.4% despite strong sales growth in the United States

and China during the April-June quarter.

* On the political front, Burnhamwas elected leader of

Britain's governing Labour Party, the final step before becoming

its seventh prime minister in a decade on a pledge to thwart the

rise of the populist Reform UK.

* Among other stocks, GSK fell 2% after the

drugmaker said it would halt development of its experimental

treatment for refractory chronic cough after the therapy failed

a late-stage trial and missed key efficacy goals across multiple

dosages.