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* FTSE 100 ends 0.4 pct higher
* ARM soars 41 pct after Softbank deal
* TUI, Thomas Cook retreat on failed Turkey coup
By Atul Prakash and Kit Rees
LONDON, July 18 (Reuters) - Britain's top equity indextouched an 11-month closing high on Monday, boosted by a surgein shares of ARM Holdings after Japan's SoftBank Group agreed tobuy the chip designer in a $32 billion cash deal.
ARM, whose processor and graphics technology is usedby tech giants like Apple and Samsung,spiked to a record peak, with its shares ending 40.9 percenthigher following the announcement.
Analysts said the deal could lead to more mergers andacquisitions (M&A) in Britain. M&A activity in the country hasslumped 68 percent to $63 billion so far this year from thecorresponding period of last year, Thomson Reuters data showed.
"While it's difficult to chalk this deal up to the Brexitvote, the falling pound does make some UK companies cheaper, andthis takeover could act as the starting gun for more M&Aactivity," Hargreaves Lansdown senior analyst Laith Khalaf said.
"ARM has been a great British success story, though it hasbeen a key beneficiary of the global expansion of the smartphonemarket, driven of course by Apple. The future looks bright too,as mobile computing will grow for years to come."
Khalaf said that those who invested in ARM at the float in1998 would have seen their 1,000 pounds ($1,328.80) turning intoaround 46,000 pounds as of Monday's close.
ARM helped the blue-chip FTSE 100 index to finish0.4 percent up at 6,504.33 points, the highest closing levelsince August last year.
The index's gains were capped by a fall in travel stocks,which came under pressure after a failed coup in Turkey. Touroperator TUI fell 2 percent, while mid-cap Thomas Cook dropped nearly 1 percent.
"It is just one thing after another, really. Every time youthink the sector might be free of problems, then another onecomes along," said Chris Beauchamp, senior analyst at IG.
"I think the fact that the coup didn't last very long, thefact you haven't got ... any further fighting will perhapscushion the impact. But people will look at Turkey and think,'Well, why don't I go elsewhere?'"
Basic resources stocks slipped on weaker metals prices. TheUK mining index fell 0.5 prcent, dragged down by a0.5 to 2 percent fall in BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Antofagasta.
The FTSE 100 index is up around 7 percent so far this year,having hit a year-high last Thursday. It has recovered 5.6percent from a slump after Britain voted to leave the EuropeanUnion on June 23.
($1 = 0.7526 pounds) (Editing by Mark Heinrich)
