- Airlines rise after strong numbers from giant Ryanair
- Industrial metal miners down on lower metal prices
- Healthcare majors rebound after Monday's fall
- Homebuilders down after JP Morgan turns bearish on sector
- FTSE 100 flat, FTSE 250 up 0.3%
July 4 (Reuters) - UK's FTSE 100 was flat on Tuesday, as losses in miners amid downbeat Chinese demand outlook were offset by a rebound in healthcare stocks following the previous day's slump.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 held steady at 7532.5 points, while the FTSE 250 midcap index added 0.3%. Industrial metal miners slipped 0.6%, tracking early losses in most base metal prices as weak economic data from top consumer China stoked demand concerns.
The homebuilders index fell 0.6% after JP Morgan lowered its price target on all eight constituents, flagging a potential sales slowdown.
Taylor Wimpey, Vistry Group and Barratt Developments fell between 0.7% and 1.1%.
The pharmaceuticals and biotech sector gained 0.8%, buoyed by a rebound in shares of AstraZeneca. The index fell more than 5% on Monday.
Sainsbury's slipped 1.6% after Britain's second-largest supermarket group reported quarterly results, with one analyst noting competition woes hurting shares.
The travel and leisure sector that houses UK's major airlines added 0.4% after industry bellwether Ryanair reported record monthly traffic in June.
Helping gains on the index, Wizz Air Holdings gained 1.5% after the low-cost airline recorded a 22.5% increase in passengers for June.
Dunelm Group lost 5.5% after RBC cut the homeware retailer's rating to "underperform" from "sector perform".
The commodities-heavy FTSE 100 is barely up so far for the year on concerns around a global economic slowdown and towering inflation prompting more policy tightening.
"You would expect the Bank of England to put through some more rate rises yet, but we are in some way approaching a peak," said Ben Russon, co-head of UK equities at Martin Currie.
"We are very much dependent on the inflation data from here and mathematically, you should see some respite."
Trading is expected to be light as most of Wall Street was closed for an Independence Day holiday.
Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Eileen Soreng
Source: Reuters