FTSE Down Marginally Ahead Of BoE Announcement
(RTTNews) - UK stocks are down slightly in cautious trade on Thursday ahead of the Bank of England's monetary policy announcement.
The BoE is widely expected to hold rates unchanged, amid signs of a slowdown, and high inflation.
The benchmark FTSE 100 is down 7.66 points or 0.09% at 8,699.00 a few minutes before noon.
Vistry Group is rising 3.7%. Experian is up nearly 3%, while Pershing Square Holdings, Diploma, Bunzl, Hiscox, Kingfisher, Rightmove, Relx, Severn Trent, Persimmon, National Grid, United Utilities and Intercontinental Hotels are up 1.5 to 2.5%.
Prudential is up more than 1% after it announced a health insurance joint venture with India-based HCL Group.
3i, Beazley, Pearson, Fresnillo, BAE Systems, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, M&G, Compass Group and Rolls-Royce Holdings are down 2 to 5%.
Data from the Office for National Statistics said the UK unemployment rate remained stable and wages continued to log strong growth in the three months to January period, maintaining pressure on the Bank of England to hold interest rates.
The ILO unemployment rate registered 4.4% in November to January, unchanged from the preceding period. The rate matched expectations.
In the three months to January, average earnings including bonus grew 5.8% from the previous year, in line with forecast. Similarly, excluding bonus, average earnings increased 5.9%, as expected.
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