SmithNephew gains on upbeat annual forecast
Unilever falls on Morgan Stanley downgrade
FTSE 100 flat, FTSE 250 off 0.1

Feb 27 Reuters UK39;s FTSE 100 was subdued on Tuesday as gains in miners and positive earnings updates were offset by losses in consumer staples, while investors exercised caution ahead of key inflation figures from Europe and the U.S. later in the week.

The resourceheavy FTSE 100 index held its ground at 7,686.52 points, as of 0917 GMT, while the midcap FTSE 250 slipped 0.1.

A 1.2 loss in the defensive personal care index pressured equities after Unilever fell 1.6 as Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to underweight.

Precious and base metal miners boosted the benchmark, rising 0.6 and 1.2, respectively, as the sectors tracked higher gold and copper prices on a weaker dollar.

While the domestic economic data calendar is light this week, U.S and European consumer prices data will be widely watched, which could influence the monetary policy path globally.

The FTSE 100 is very much related to the global growth story because it39;s very heavy on commodity stocks…so the best case scenario is a robust global growth coupled with softening inflation, said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior market analyst at Swissquote Bank.

It39;s going to be a slow day until some economic data comes in and that will shape the expectations.

U.S and European consumer prices data are scheduled to be released on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

Market participants now…