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* UK employment closer to pre-pandemic levels
* BHP Group jumps on strong results
* PLUS500 gains on robust revenue forecasts
* FTSE 100 up 0.3%, FTSE 250 off 0.2%
(Updates to close)
By Shashank Nayar and Amal S
Aug 17 (Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 rose on Tuesday, helped
by gains in heavyweight energy and healthcare stocks, with
sentiment bolstered by robust earnings from BHP Group and
employment numbers that showed a steady economic recovery in the
UK.
After falling as much as 0.5%, the blue-chip FTSE 100 index
ended 0.3% higher, helped by oil majors BP and
Royal Dutch Shell as crude prices recouped early
losses.
Healthcare stocks rose 1.1% with drugmakers
including AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, and
Hikma Pharmaceuticals rising between 1% and 2.3%.
Miner BHP Group gained 3.1% to the top of the FTSE
100 after posting its best annual profit in nearly a decade. It
also announced an exit from its $13 billion petroleum business
in a portfolio shake-up that will see it leave London's FTSE 100
index.
"BHP has a clear strategy now of focusing on future-proofed
commodities which are part of the transition away from fossil
fuels or in other words being part of the solution rather than
part of the problem and it's an approach which is winning favour
from the market," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ
Bell.
Steadily rising commodity prices and cheap interest rates
have helped the FTSE 100 rise nearly 11% year-to-date, but
inflation pressure, risks linked to the coronavirus pandemic and
less weightage of tech stocks on the index have led it to
underperform developed-market peers.
The number of employees on British company payrolls rose by
182,000 in July from June, moving closer to their pre-pandemic
level as the economy recovers from its coronavirus lockdowns,
tax data showed.
Unemployment in the UK dropped to 4.7% in the three months
to June, lower than economist expectations of 4.8%.
The domestically focussed mid-cap index eased 0.2%,
with travel stocks declining the most.
Online trading platform Plus500 jumped 5.1% to the
top of the mid-cap index after it forecast annual revenue
"significantly ahead" of analysts' estimates.
UK-listed shares of food-ordering firm Just Eat Takeaway.com
gained 2.9% and was the second-best performer on FTSE
100, after it reported a better-than-expected operating loss of
190 million euros ($224 million) for the first half of
2021.
(Reporting by Shashank Nayar and Amal S in Bengaluru; Editing
by Subhranshu Sahu and Uttaresh.V and Bernadette Baum)
