Downgrades to Capita and Aggreko weigh on UK's FTSE

* FTSE 100 slips 0.2 percent, Capita and Aggreko among mainfallers

* Mining stocks outperform on expectations of China stimulus * "Defensive" sectors favoured due to economic worries By Sudip Kar-Gupta

LONDON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Britain's benchmark share indexfell on Tuesday, as broker downgrades to Aggreko andCapita weighed on the market.

Traders said worries over the economy and company earningswould peg back the market in weeks to come.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was down by 0.2percent, or 11.76 points lower, at 5,829.98 points in earlymorning trade.

Support services company Capita was theworst-performing FTSE 100 stock, falling 3.1 percent whichtraders attributed to a downgrade by brokerage Seymour Pierce,which cut its Capita rating to "hold" from "buy."

Temporary power supplier Aggreko also fell 3percent as HSBC cut its rating on the stock to "neutral" from"overweight."

The FTSE 100 has rallied around 6 percent since late July,when major world central banks made pledges to undertake freshstimulus measures to fight off the effects of the euro zone debtcrisis and global economic slowdown.

However, the FTSE 100 has retreated around 2 percent from apeak of 5,932.62 points in mid-September.

Cheviot Asset Management fund manager David Miller did notexpect the index to progress much further ahead of the U.S.elections in November, due to underlying concerns over the weakglobal economy.

Those concerns were highlighted on Tuesday by theInternational Monetary Fund, which said the global economicslowdown was worsening.

"We're still range bound, and I expect us to be in thatholding pattern before the U.S. elections," he said.

BIAS TOWARDS DEFENSIVE STOCKS

Mining stocks were among the best performers on the FTSE100, rising after a fresh injection of central bank liquidity byChina - the world's top metals consumer - bolstered prospects ofstimulus measures which would help boost the global economy.

Miner Rio Tinto outperformed the FTSE's decline witha 0.6 percent rise, as it forecast production growth ahead ofits copper arm.

"We still see opportunities in the mining sector," said JNFinancial investment manager Edward Smyth, adding that his firmhad been buying stocks such as Glencore and AngloAmerican .

Adrian Slack, head of equities at Bastion Capital, addedthat he still felt that the FTSE 100 was on an "upwards trend"in terms of technical trading patterns often used by manyinvestors.

The FTSE 100 remains above the 200, 100 and 50-day simplemoving average level, which some traders have used as a signthat the market should hold its ground.

However, Cheviot's Miller said the economic uncertaintymeant he would still stick with "defensive" equity stocks - suchas food, healthcare or consumer goods companies seen as mostresilient to an economic downturn - than riskier areas such asthe mining sector.

"The defensive is still the consensus trade," he said.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta. Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)

(([e-mail])([phone])(ReutersMessaging: [e-mail]))

Keywords: MARKETS BRITAIN STOCKS/OPEN