(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window) * FTSE 100 down 0.3%, FTSE 250 off 0.5% Aug 17 (Reuters) - London’s FTSE 100 fell on Tuesday, dragged down by heavyweight retail, insurance and energy stocks, although employment numbers highlighting a steady UK economic recovery helped limit losses. The number of employees on British company payrolls rose by 182,000 in July from June, moving closer to their pre-pandemic level as the economy recovers from its coronavirus lockdowns, tax data showed. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index dropped 0.3% to its lowest since Aug. 6, with retailer Unilever, insurer Prudential and oil major BP among the top drags. The domestically focussed mid-cap index fell 0.5% with travel stocks declining the most. Online trading platform Plus500 jumped 7.7% to the top of the mid-cap index after it forecast annual revenue “significantly ahead” of analysts’ estimates. UK-listed shares of miner BHP Group jumped 9.2% to the top of the FTSE 100 after the company posted its best annual profit in nearly a decade and said it would sell its petroleum assets to Woodside Petroleum. (Reporting by Shashank Nayar in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.