FTSE 100 little changed as investors await Fed

Dec 9 (Reuters) - ‌The UK's blue-chip FTSE 100 was little changed on Tuesday, as gains ‍in ‌precious-metal miners and defence stocks offset declines elsewhere, while investors looked ahead to a ⁠highly anticipated U.S. interest rate decision ‌on Wednesday.

The FTSE 100 closed the session down 0.03%, while the domestically oriented FTSE 250 index dipped 0.1%.

Defence stocks were trading higher across Europe after Bloomberg News reported that German ⁠lawmakers are set to approve defence contracts worth a record 52 billion euros next week. Shares of ​BAE Systems rose 2.1%, while Rolls-Royce added 0.4%. 

Global investors ‌were mostly cautious ahead of the Federal ⁠Reserve's monetary policy decision on Wednesday, with traders mostly betting a 25 basis point rate cut following mixed economic data and dovish comments from some ​Fed officials in recent days. 

Gold and silver prices climbed ahead of the decision, pushing the FTSE 350 index of precious-metal miners up almost 2%.

The Bank of England is also widely seen cutting rates at its policy meeting next week amid ​signs ‍of labour market weakness and ​cooling inflation.

Barclays said spending by UK consumers on its credit and debit cards fell by 1.1% in annual terms in November, the biggest drop since February 2021 when the pandemic still raged.

A separate survey from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) trade body showed spending at big retailers rose by 1.4% in annual terms last month, the ⁠slowest growth since May.

Among other single stocks, BAT dipped 0.3% after the Dunhill maker said it expects its 2026 results ​to scrape the lower end of its mid-term targets.

Shell dipped 0.6% after Bloomberg reported that the oil major sought a buyer for a 20% stake in its Brazilian oilfield cluster to help fund a multibillion-dollar ‌offshore development.

Man Group rose 3.9% after J.P. Morgan upgraded the hedge fund to "overweight" from "neutral."

(Reporting by Tharuniyaa Lakshmi and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber, William Maclean)