London - UK shares slipped early on Tuesday as a rebound for gold miners after a hammering in the previous session failed to offset a fairly mixed set of corporate results and lingering concern over commodity price falls.
Data released on Tuesday also showed UK public finances improved less than expected in June.
The FTSE 100 index was down 0.1 percent at 6,761.33 points at 08h28 GMT, broadly in line with pan-European equities. While receding fears around Greece have helped UK and European stocks rally in recent weeks, UK equities remain below their June peak.
Two top performers on Tuesday were gold miners Fresnillo and Randgold, up 1 to 2.5 percent after a slump in gold prices on Monday wiped out more than $8 billion from the gold-mining sector's equity market capitalisation.
Gold prices on Tuesday stabilised just above a five-year low though some investors still see further price falls.
“The gold price has had a bit of a bounce... It's helping out the miners,” said Mark Ward, head of execution trading at Sanlam Securities.
Corporate results were fairly mixed: IG Group shares fell 6 percent after reporting a hit to full-year earnings from the Swiss franc's fluctuations in January, while online domestic appliances retailer AO World jumped 9.7 percent after reporting a strong start to second-quarter trading.
The second-quarter earnings season is in its early days but already the majority of companies that have reported results in the United States and Europe have beaten earnings expectations, according to JPMorgan.
Reuters