LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Seesaws, But BHP Billiton Outperforms

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The U.K.'s benchmark FTSE 100 was little changed Tuesday, but shares of BHP Billiton PLC outperformed following the mining heavyweight's financial results.

The FTSE 100 swayed between small losses and gains, and was recently up 3 points at 6,915.40. The benchmark on Monday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hsbc-shares-hit-in-london-trade-pulling-ftse-100-lower-2015-02-23) lost 3 points after having pushed above its all-time closing high of 6,930.20, hit in December 1999.

Standing out among advancers was BHP Billiton (BHP) . Its stock climbed 3.4% after the miner, the biggest by market value, reported a lower-than-anticipated fall in first-half profit, which was $4.27 billion (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bhp-profit-falls-as-commodity-prices-slide-2015-02-24). Analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected profit, on average, to come in at $3.59 billion. BHP also said it will raise its interim dividend 5% to 62 cents a share.

Also near the top of the benchmark, shares of Mondi PLC popped up 1.6%. The packaging and paper company said it's recommending a 17% increase in its dividend (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/mondi-profit-rises-recommends-dividend-increase-2015-02-24)after a rise in 2014 profit to 471 million euros ($534.6 million), from EUR386 million a year earlier.

But at the lower end of the FTSE was Vodafone PLC , with shares of the mobile-services provider falling 2.6%.

GKN PLC shares dropped 3.1% after the engineering firm reported a fall in full- year sales and pretax profit (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gkn-profit-falls-amid-currency-hit-2015-02-24) due to the impact of currency movements. GKN did say taking out the impact of currency movements, organic sales rose 4%.

Investors will also watch for comments by Bank of England Governor Mark Carney when he appears at a Treasury Select Committee Hearing at 10 a.m. London time, or 5 a.m. Eastern. See: What time does Draghi speak on Tuesday? (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-time-does-draghi-speak-on-tuesday-2015-02-24)

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