London stocks open lower before Bank of England update

[LONDON] London's stock market fell at the start of trading Thursday as investors looked ahead to the Bank of England's latest interest rate decision and inflation forecasts.

In the eurozone, the Frankfurt and Paris indices rose slightly.

"Super Thursday is upon us again as the Bank of England treats us to a flurry of information with investors having to digest the interest rate decision, meeting minutes, the quarterly inflation report and a speech from the Governor himself, Mark Carney," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda trading group.

"There may currently be some confusion in the markets around the timing of the first rate hike from the BoE (since mid-2007), but after today's events things should hopefully be much clearer."

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index fell 0.18 per cent compared with Wednesday's close to open at 6,401.57 points.

The Paris CAC 40 index climbed 0.40 per cent to 4,967.94 points and Frankfurt's DAX 30 nudged up 0.02 per cent to 10,847.50.

AFP