London stocks fall ahead of key economic data; miners limit losses

British equities opened lower on Tuesday as investors braced for crucial U.S. and UK economic data for new clues on the global interest rate cut trajectory, while gains in the metals miners limited broader market losses.

The commodity-heavy FTSE 100 edged down 0.2% by 0714 GMT, while the more domestically-focused FTSE 250 lost 0.3%.

Precious metal miners led sectoral advances, climbing 1.6%, as gold prices hovered near record high levels.

Heavyweight industrial metal miners followed with a 1% rise as metals prices extended their gains on Tuesday amid expectations of a rebound in manufacturing activities globally.

Investors, this week, will keep a close eye on fresh insights into the global interest rate cut outlook, tracking key economic events, including the U.S. inflation, the European Central Bank’s policy meeting and Britain’s GDP figures.

Among individual stocks, BP shares added 1% as the energy giant expects first-quarter upstream production of both oil and gas as well as low-carbon energy to be higher than the previous three months.