LONDON MARKETS: U.K. Stocks Slip Ahead Of BOE Minutes; BHP Gains

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks slipped Wednesday ahead of the release of minutes from the Bank of England's most recent meeting, but BHP Billiton PLC was a top performer after a solid output update.

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index lost 4 points, or 0.1%, to 6,790.76. It finished Tuesday's session up 1% at 6,795.34, its highest close in two weeks.

At 9:30 a.m. in London, or 4:30 a.m Eastern Time, the Bank of England will release minutes from its July 10 meeting at which policy makers left the benchmark interest rate unchanged. Officials at the time faced criticism for sending mixed signals on the outlook of borrowing costs.

Shares of BHP Billiton climbed 1.2% after the miner posted iron-ore production of 225 million metric tons for the year through June. That was an increase of 20% on the 12 months prior. BHP in April raised its expectations for full-year iron-ore production to 217 million tons.

Meanwhile, the Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.3% to 343.42. Among national markets, France's CAC 40 index slipped less than 1 point at 4,368.97, while Germany's DAX 30 index gained 0.5% to 9,778.59.

Russia's MICEX index picked up 0.7% to 1,415.33.

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