LONDON MARKETS: Sainsbury, BHP Guide FTSE 100 Higher, But Antofagasta Falls

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks rose Tuesday, with J. Sainsbury PLC higher following the supermarket chain's trading update.

The FTSE 100 rose 0.5% to 6,837.30, adding to Monday's advance of 0.9%.

Among Tuesday's gainers, Sainsbury's rose 2%. The company's 1.7% decline in fourth-quarter same-store sales excluding fuel was less than the expected fall of 2%. Sainsbury's said it has seen growth in like-for-like transactions following price reductions and simplified promotion.

"We expect the market to remain challenging for the foreseeable future. Food deflation is likely to persist for the rest of this calendar year, and competitive pressures on price will continue," said Sainsbury's in statement.

Shares of supermarket chain Tesco PLC were down 0.4%, and Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC dropped 0.2%.

Meanwhile, shares of Antofagasta fell 1.8% after the copper miner's yearly net profit fell to $459.8 million (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/antofagasta-net-profit-falls-30-2015-03-17) from $660 million a year ago, missing expectations of $676 million, according to a FactSet poll of analysts. The company did reaffirm plans to produce 710,000 tons of copper in 2015.

But diversified mining heavyweight BHP Billiton PLC (BHP) climbed 1.2% after the company on Tuesday outlined plans to spin a new company, South32 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bhp-outlines-plan-to-spin-off-south32-2015-03-16-18103017).

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires