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* Miners hit by demand concerns after China GDP* Banks drop on Moody’s France warning* Whitbread climbs on H1 profit beatBy Tricia WrightLONDON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Britain’s top share index fell on Tuesday, with banks and miners leading a broad-based sell-off, as revived concern over the euro zone debt crisis was compounded by Chinese data which raised fears about demand from the world’s top metals consumer.Miners bore the brunt of the sell-off, tracking metals prices lower after China’s growth slowed in the third quarter to its weakest pace since early 2009.Xstrata was among the worst off, down 3.1 percent, after the global miner issued a third-quarter production report showing copper output down 4 percent on the same period a year ago.Wolfgang Schaeuble, Germany’s finance minister, helped spur a reversal in market sentiment when he played down heightened expectations that European governments will resolve the region’s sovereign debt crisis at an EU summit on Oct. 23.Banks , particularly sensitive to the vagaries of the euro zone debt story, fell sharply, also knocked after Moody’s late on Monday warned it may slap a negative outlook on France’s AAA credit rating in the next three months.Standard Chartered led the sector lower, down 4.5 percent, with traders citing the impact of Temasek Financial launching a S$650 million ($512 million) bond exchangeable into shares of the London-listed bank.”Ordinarily it should have no impact for Standard Chartered, but if a bear was looking for an excuse to take any profits then it could have an impact,” one London-based analyst, who declined to be named, said.”But there is all the usual stuff out there to knock the bank and the sector too — China growth worries, euro zone debt uncertainties — so it’s no real surprise it’s down.”The FTSE 100 was down 72.07 points, or 1.3 percent, at 5,364.63 by 1124 GMT, with Monday’s 0.5 percent dip putting it back below technically important levels around 5,450 which it breached for the first time in 10 weeks on Friday.DOWNSIDE RISKFurther souring the mood, inflation in Britain hit a three-year high in September, driven by soaring gas and electricity bills, adding to a severe squeeze on Britons’ living standards as wages fail to keep up with rising prices.Atif Latif, director of equities and derivatives at Guardian Stockbrokers, noted an increase in “put” protection — options to hedge against downside risk — looking to take advantage of a FTSE 100 fall down to around 5,000-5,100.Andrew Bell at money manager Witan said despite German comments which had dampened euro zone deal hopes, “it looks likelier than a month ago Europe is addressing the right questions, and with more vigour, while economic news suggests anaemic growth not rigor mortis.”The case for buying the dips rather than running for cover has improved — though timing is always uncertain and selecting quality more important than ever,” Bell, chief executive of the 1.1 billion pound Witan Investment Trust, said.Morgan Stanley published a note in which it attempted to pick out companies with long-term sustainable competitive advantages — a list which included UK-listed Experian , InterContinental Hotels , Imperial Tobacco , Rio Tinto and Rolls-Royce .Elsewhere Whitbread managed a 1.2 percent gain as Britain’s biggest hotel and coffee shop operator reported a higher-than-expected first-half pretax profit and hiked its dividend by over 50 percent.U.S. stock index futures pointed to a mixed opening on Wall Street, as investors digested earnings from Bank of America and Goldman Sachs . Other leading companies due to report included Apple .