LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Wavers As Unilever Climbs; Miners Fall

By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index traded in tight ranges on Tuesday, with shares of Unilever providing support after a well-received earnings report, while miners added pressure as iron-ore prices declined.

The benchmark index was marginally higher at 6,838.94, on track for a third straight day of gains.

Unilever PLC (UL), the maker of Dove soap and Axe deodorant, gained 3.2% after the consumer-products company reported a rise in full-year earnings.

"Unilever's results were refreshingly dull, doubly so in view of the amount of second-guessing by analysts and investors over the last couple of weeks. EPS came in 3% ahead of our forecast at EUR1.58, and we can't see anything untoward in their composition," said James Edwardes Jones, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, in a note.

Shares of IMI PLC put on 1% after the engineering firm said it will return 620 million pounds ($1.02 billion) to shareholders from the sale of its beverage-dispense and merchandising divisions.

In the same vein, Melrose Industries PLC gained 0.5% after the investment company said it will return GBP600 million to shareholders following recent disposals of businesses.

On a more downbeat note in London, however, mining firms declined as iron-ore prices fell to their lowest level in six months. The downturn was partly due to a retreat by Chinese buyers in response to slowing domestic steel production and rising stockpiles. Shares of Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) dropped 1.8%, Anglo American PLC lost 1.3%, BHP Billiton PLC (BHP) fell 1.1% and Glencore Xstrata PLC gave up 0.8%. Metals prices were broadly lower.

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