By Kit Rees
LONDON (Reuters) - UK shares stumbled on Tuesday in choppy trade, after a broker downgrades hit the shares of Ashtead Group (L:AHT), while a fall in the European luxury sector weighed on Burberry (L:BRBY).
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index (FTSE) was 0.3 percent lower at 6,181.78 points by 0823 GMT, slightly outperforming the broader European market.
"It doesn't look to me like we're seeing a strong correction yet in terms of risk-seeking," Ken Odeluga, market analyst at City Index, said.
The top faller on the index was equipment rental company Ashtead Group, which dropped over 4 percent after investment bank HSBC downgraded its rating on the stock to "hold" from "buy" based on findings about the age of its fleet.
"Upon a closer examination, Ashtead's fleet may
not be materially younger than that of the peers, at least on a basis that matters commercially," analysts at HSBC said in a note.
Intu Properties (L:INTUP) also suffered from a target price cut from Societe Generale (PA:SOGN), which sent its shares 2.8 percent lower.
Hospitality company Whitbread (L:WTB) fell 2.8 percent after the boss of Costa, a chain of coffee shops which it operates, left the company.
Luxury goods company Burberry was also lower, down 2.8 percent following a miss in Q1 earnings from its French peer LVMH (PA:LVMH), which was impacted by subdued tourist shopping in key markets such as France and Hong Kong.
Miners were the top gainers, led higher by a 5.8 percent rise in Anglo American (L:AAL). The company said that rough diamond sales during the third cycle of the year continued their reasonably positive trend.
The mining sector (FTNMX1770) was up 3 percent, supported by steady copper prices and encouraging economic signals from China. [MET/L]
"Commodities have been rallying very strongly since about February ... and that has obviously given miners a bit of a tailwind," City Index's Odeluga said.