Financials boost British equities higher; Unilever slips

(Reuters) - UK's benchmark stock indexes advanced on Tuesday, boosted by heavyweight financial stocks including banks, while Unilever shares came under pressure after its CEO's surprise exit.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 was up 0.4%, poised to end a five-day losing streak, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 rose 0.2%.

Unilever shed 1.6% after surprising investors by replacing CEO Hein Schumacher with finance chief Fernando Fernandez, tasked with re-vitalizing the consumer group's performance.

On the bright side, the banks index advanced 2% to its highest level since 2008 after a near 1% fall in the last session with heavyweight HSBC rising 2.3%.

London-listed Georgian bank Lion Finance Group jumped as much as 9.8% to a record high, following a 55.2% growth in fourth-quarter group net interest income, making it the top gainer on the FTSE mid-cap index.

The lender also approved a share buyback and cancellation programme of 107.7 million Georgian lari ($38.74 million).

Another earnings driven move was Smith+Nephew, which rose 5.2% after the medical products maker reported annual sales and profit broadly in line with expectations.

Wood Group extended gains, up 4.8% after a 41.4% surge in the last session, when the struggling oilfield services and engineering firm received a fresh approach from Dubai-based Sidara about a possible takeover offer.

Focus will now be on comments from Bank of England's Chief Economist Huw Pill, who is set to speak later in the day.

Speaking on Monday, BoE Monetary Policy Committee member Swati Dhingra said the central bank does not have a consensus about how fast it should cut interest rates, even though they all agreed to use the word "gradual".

Globally, a U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditure index reading would be on the radar on Friday, a crucial metric to gauge the Federal Reserve's interest rate path.

($1 = 2.7800 laris)

(Reporting by Ragini Mathur in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)

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