Britain's FTSE 100 slips as miners, Diageo weigh

By Purvi Agarwal and Shubham Batra

(Reuters) -London's FTSE 100 ended lower on Tuesday, hurt by losses in the beverage sector after Diageo hit a four-year low following an annual profit miss, and by a decline in mining stocks.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index edged 0.2% lower, with industrial metal miners falling around 2% as base metals prices fell on slowing global growth momentum and risk-off sentiment.

The beverages sector was the worst hit, down 4.2% to its lowest since November 2020. Diageo fell 5.1% after the spirits maker reported a steeper than expected 4.8% decline in annual organic operating profit.

The mid-cap FTSE 250 index rose nearly 1% after St James's Place jumped 25% to log its biggest one-day rise since 2008.

The British wealth manager's CEO Mark FitzPatrick, who took up the role in December, announced a strategy update alongside half-year results, including a target to hit cumulative savings of close to 500 million pounds ($643 million) by 2030.

Precious metal miners climbed 1.8%, tracking higher gold prices. [GOL/]

Investors will now shift their focus to U.S. Federal Reserve, which is expected to keep rates unchanged on Wednesday, while bets of a cut from the Bank of England on Thursday stand at just over 58%, despite data showing sticky services inflation. [0#BOEWATCH]

Also on the radar this week are a crucial jobs report in the U.S. and quarterly earnings from Big Tech names like Microsoft, which is set to report after the closing bell on Tuesday.

Standard Chartered gained 5.9% to top the FTSE 100 after the bank announced its largest-ever share buyback worth $1.5 billion and lifted its earnings outlook for this year.

(Reporting by Purvi Agarwal and Shubham Batra in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Susan Fenton)