LONDON MARKETS: SABMiller Shares Drag, Pearson Perks Up In London Trade

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Stocks in the U.K. fell Tuesday, with SABMiller shares giving back some gains made in the previous session, but an upgrade for publisher Pearson lifts its shares.

Data: Stocks held to losses after the U.K.'s inflation-rate reading for August came in below expectations, which eases pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates. The FTSE 100 index was down 0.2% at 6,792.174. The index finished 0.1% lower on Monday on market uncertainty about whether Scotland will vote to break away from the U.K.

The U.K.'s Office for National Statistics on Tuesday said August inflation was 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected, on average, inflation to hold steady at 1.6%. Declines in prices for motor fuels, food and non-alcoholic beverages were the largest contributors to the downward trend.

Separately, the ONS said U.K. housing prices in August rose 11.7% in the year to July, with prices in London surging 19.1% in the year.

The pound (GBPUSD) edged up to $1.6178 following the ONS data, from $1.6171 ahead of the releases. Sterling late Monday was buying $1.6231.

Stocks: On Tuesday, SABMiller PLC (SBMRY) fell 2.1%, weighing down the FTSE 100. The shares on Monday leapt 8.7% on news that Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (AHBIY) was talking to banks about financing a deal to buy the London-listed brewer.

Also down were shares of chip designer ARM Holdings , down by 2.4%, in line with a hefty selloff in tech stocks overnight on Wall Street.

Off the FTSE 100, shares in ASOS PLC fell 11% after the online fashion retailer warned on 2015 profit, with analysts estimating the earnings downgrade could reach as much as 30%.

Pearson shares , however, topped the FTSE 100, rising 1.7% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the publisher's stock to overweight from equal-weight. "We think the restructuring is complete," and per-share earnings at Pearson could rise 15% to 20% in 2015, its analysts said. The publishing company "now addresses a bigger market with a more flexible cost base. It is time to own Pearson again," wrote Morgan Stanley analyst Patrick Wellington in a note.

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