FTSE 100 Edges Higher In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - U.K. stocks were slightly higher on Thursday as investors kept a close eye on developments in the Middle East and awaited comments later today from Bank of England policymaker Megan Greene for further clues on when the central might lower interest rates.

The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 27 points, or 0.3 percent, at 7,874. after gaining 0.4 percent on Wednesday.

BP Plc dropped 1.2 percent and peer Shell gave up half a percent after a sharp fall in oil prices overnight on demand concerns.

easyJet rallied 3.3 percent after the airline forecast a smaller-than-expected winter loss.

Mining giant BHP fell about 1 percent after third-quarter iron ore production fell 7 percent.

Bp Announces Simplified Structure To Reduce Duplication, Reporting Line Complexity Gold miner Centamin lost almost 4 percent after Q1 production came in slightly below expectations.