Consumer stocks a headache as FTSE inches higher

By Julien Ponthus and Kit Rees

LONDON (Reuters) - UK shares managed a meagre gain on Thursday after a three-day losing streak as Britain's third-biggest company, Unilever, fell after announcing it would make Rotterdam its sole legal home a year before Brexit.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 (.FTSE) index was up 0.1 percent at 7,139.76 points at its close, recovering some losses from the day before thanks to gains in financials, healthcare and industrials.

The diplomatic tensions between Britain and Russia have so far had little impact on British shares.

Unilever (ULVR.L) (UNc.AS), which said it would keep its London listing despite scrapping its London corporate headquarters, was down 1.7 percent.

It remained unclear whether Unilever could still keep its place on the FTSE 100 index.

"It may have a short term impact on demand for the shares however, as institutional investors may have to shuffle their decks a bit," said Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

However, sentiment around consumer stocks was further dented after shares of mid-cap soap and shampoo maker PZ Cussons (PZC.L) dropped more than 16 percent after the group issued a profit warning, posting its biggest one-day drop on record.

"Consumer confidence remains an issue in the UK due to economic uncertainty and high inflation/low wage growth conundrum. Inflation is also dampening demand and prices in Nigeria," said Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets.

"A cost cutting review has also been announced, focussing on less packaging and fewer, simpler but bigger projects. But will this be enough?"

Morgan Stanley and Barclays have already reduced their financial targets for the stock.

Elsewhere retail landlord Hammerson (HMSO.L) posted the worst performance of the FTSE, down nearly 5 percent after a downgrade from Credit Suisse, which cut its target price to 460 pence from 605 pence.

Kier Group (KIE.L) was another mid-cap faller, down 3.7 percent, after a trading update.

Hikma topped the mid-size index (.FTMC) with a 19 percent rise after brokers issued positive recommendations for the drugmaker.

Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX.L) was the winner on the broader pan-European (.STOXX) STOXX 600, up 6 percent after it reported better-than-expected full-year revenues.

(Reporting by Julien Ponthus and Kit Rees; Editing by Mark Heinrich)