Miners weigh on FTSE 100; Unilever top boost

London's FTSE 100 index fell on Thursday as miners slipped over rising troubles in China's property sector and investors fretted about rate hike prospects, while Unilever gained on strong quarterly sales growth. Global miner Anglo American fell 1.9% despite reporting a 2% rise in third-quarter overall production. The domestically focussed mid-cap index fell 0.4%, with consumer services stocks among the worst performers.

London's FTSE 100 index fell on Thursday as miners slipped over rising troubles in China's property sector and investors fretted about rate hike prospects, while Unilever gained on strong quarterly sales growth. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index eased 0.5% by 0709 GMT, with miners Rio Tinto, BHP Group, and Anglo American down 1.5% to 2.5%.

Despite positive earnings updates, miners were hit by fresh worries about the heavily indebted Chinese property developer China Evergrande Group after it said it abandoned a $2.6 billion sale of a stake in a subsidiary and that it had made no progress on other sales. Global miner Anglo American fell 1.9% despite reporting a 2% rise in third-quarter overall production.

The domestically focussed mid-cap index fell 0.4%, with consumer services stocks among the worst performers. In company news, Renishaw PLC rose 6.8% after reporting a nearly 146% rise in profit.

Unilever gained 0.9% after the consumer goods giant beat its third-quarter sales growth forecast and maintained its full-year profit margin guidance.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)