Lloyds gains on St James's Place sale Europe's main equities markets are drifting lower in early trade, with defensive stocks limiting losses as investors remain reluctant to take on more risk. There is little overall action on the region's main indices ahead of a series of industrial and manufacturing output data due out over the morning. London's FTSE 100 fell 0.1 per cent in early trading before turning positive to trade at 6564.99, while the international FTSE Eurofirst 300 was flat at 1,272.76. Lloyds Banking Group was 1.1 per cent higher after it said the sale of its remaining stake in St James's Place, the wealth manager, would boost its capital position by £685m. Tui Travel was up 0.8 per cent at 887.1p after it reported a 13 per cent rise in underlying profits of £555m. Shares in Egyptian gold miner Centamin were up 1.7 per cent on the FTSE 250 at 45.1p after it announced the £22.6m purchase of Australian-listed African miner Ampella. Pressure on the main London index was again coming from the mining sector as risk appetite on global markets remained subdued. Vedanta Resources was leading the sector lower, down 1.2 per cent at 811.4p. BHP Billiton was down 0.9 per cent at £18.26. Whitbread was lower after a trading update ahead of its full annual results met forecasts but did not contain any catalysts for the share price. Stock in the owner of the Costa Coffee chain, which it plans to expand by a further 300 full-size outlets, was down 1 per cent at £34.90. Chipmaker CSR was the best performing stock on the FTSE 250 after it announced plans to exit the digital camera market to concentrate on core products. CSR said it would take an impairment charge of around $90m, cutting around 200 jobs from the unit, which has faced growing competition from integral cameras on smartphones. Shares in the company were up 8.3 per cent at 551.5p.