Unilever, BAT push FTSE 100 higher

By Purvi Agarwal and Roshan Abraham

(Reuters) -Britain's FTSE 100 ended higher on Thursday after upbeat earnings from Unilever and British American Tobacco helped counter losses in precious metal miners on the back of a slump in gold prices.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed up 0.4%, rebounding from a three-month low hit earlier in the session.

Unilever climbed 6.2% to a near four-year high after the Dove soap maker beat profit estimates for the first half of the year, boosted by resilient pricing.

"While quarterly sales missed forecasts, the improvement in margins points the way to improved profitability later in the year," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG Group.

British American Tobacco (BAT) addded 5.3% as it beat first-half profit forecasts and investors latched on to some positives at its key U.S. business.

Meanwhile, U.S. small cap stocks rallied but tech stocks came under pressure after data showed the U.S. economy grew faster than expected in the second quarter, helped by solid consumer spending and business investment.

Following the data, gold prices hit a two-week low.

UK-listed precious metal miners fell 6.8%. Gold miners Fresnillo and Endeavour Mining slipped over 4.1% and 7% each. [GOL/]

Meanwhile, the mid-cap FTSE 250 fell 0.3% to a two-week low.

Centamin slipped 7.7% after it announced its interim results and left its 2024 outlook unchanged, while Rentokil dropped 1.4% after the pest-control firm reported its interim half-yearly results.

Centrica slipped to the bottom of the FTSE 100 with a 9.9% decline after the energy company reported a fall in first-half adjusted operating profit.

(Reporting by Purvi Agarwal and Roshan Abraham in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K, William Maclean)