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Britain's FTSE underperforms Europe after long weekend

(ADVISORY- Follow European and UK stock markets in real time on the Reuters Live Markets blog on Eikon, see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets)

* FTSE 100 flat

* Mining sector weighs, with copper near two-month lows

* Bunzl (LSE: BNZL.L - news) rises after well-received results

* AB Foods benefits from RBC (Other OTC: RBCI - news) upgrade

By Alistair Smout

LONDON, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index was flat on Tuesday, supported by well-received results from Bunzl, but underperformed other European indexes as traders returned from a long weekend, with miners under particular pressure.

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Britain's FTSE 100 was flat at 6,837.39 points by 0755 GMT, while the euro zone Euro STOXX 50 rose 1 percent.

European stocks had fallen on Monday, while the British market was shut for a public holiday.

On Tuesday the FTSE 100 underperformed to reflect those falls, with the mining sector down 3.5 percent

Copper prices touched a new two-month low for a fourth straight session, and were again unable to sustain an early recovery in prices.

Randgold, Antofagasta (Other OTC: ANFGF - news) , Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO.L - news) and Glencore (Xetra: A1JAGV - news) were down 3.6-4.5 percent.

Among risers, Bunzl was up 1.7 percent after beating expectations for first-half profit.

The business supplies distributor also said it did not expect Britain's vote to leave the European Union to have a large impact on the business.

"Bunzl has seen little impact from the Brexit vote apart from the weakening of sterling, which will have a significant positive effect on its results for the remainder of the year if exchange rates remain at their current levels," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

Top riser was Associated British Foods (LSE: ABF.L - news) after the owner of Primark was raised to "outperform" from "sector perform" by analysts at RBC.

"Primark offers a relatively scarce international rollout story and we expect (earnings) momentum driven by Primark market share gains, higher sugar prices and a strong EUR trend versus the pound," analysts at RBC said in a note.

Building material firm CRH (EUREX: 558474.EX - news) rose 2 percent, extending a rally from well-received results last week.

It received further bullish broker comment on Monday from Goodbody, and is now up 5 percent since last Thursday, when it published results and announced its first dividend hike in seven years.

The FTSE index was unmoved by Bank of England data showing lending to British consumers cooled in the month after the June 23 vote to leave the EU, which contrasted with other recent signs that Britons had taken the decision in their stride.

(Editing by Catherine Evans)