LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Edges Higher Ahead Of Inflation Data

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks edged higher Tuesday ahead of data that may show Britain's inflation rate has turned negative.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.2% at 7,077.31, led by mining stocks. Miners were driven lower in the previous session after downgrades of the iron-ore sector and weak data from China, a key buyer of metals.

Shares of BHP Billiton PLC (BHP) and Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) , , the largest iron-ore producers, each rose 1.4%. The companies were downgraded by Citigroup on Monday, and Standard & Poor's put their credit ratings on watch for possible downgrade.

Among decliners, Aberdeen Asset Management PLC fell 2% and drug maker Shire PLC lost 1.6%.

At 9:30 a.m. London time, or 4:30 a.m. Eastern Time, investors will receive a U.K. consumer-price index report for March from the Office for National Statistics. The pound (GBPUSD) was trading at $1.4653, down from $1.4676 late Monday in New York.

"Bearing in mind the warning [in] the Bank of England's Inflation Report that the CPI will most likely turn negative, a dip into deflation would not be much of a surprise. This could push further back expectations of a rate hike and increase the selling pressure on sterling," said Marshall Gittler, head of global currency strategy at IronFX Global, in a note.

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