London open: Stocks rise ahead of BoE rate announcement
London stocks rose in early trade on Thursday following an upbeat Asian session, as investors eyed the latest policy announcement from the Bank of England.
At 0905 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.4% at 7,112.23.
The BoE rate announcement is due at midday, with no change to interest rates expected.
Lukman Otunuga, senior research analyst at FXTM, said: "Markets widely expect the central bank to leave monetary policy unchanged. However, much attention may be directed to what the bank has to say about the recent spike in inflation after consumer prices hit 3.2% in August, its highest rate since March 2012.
"It is also worth keeping in mind that the BoE was split evenly last month on whether the minimum conditions for a rate hike had been met. All eyes will be on whether the two new committee members impact this balance."
In equity markets, Investec rallied as the wealth manager and banking group raised its earnings outlook driven by strong revenue growth and lower impairments.
Playtech gained after the gambling software developer reported a rise in first-half profit as it said a strong online performance helped to offset longer-than-expected retail closures in Italy.
On the downside, Royal Mail ticked a touch lower after saying it expects group first-half adjusted operating profit to be between £395m and £400m, as it reported an 8.2% rise in revenue for the five months to August.
Harbour Energy was also in the red after its first-half revenues missed market expectations.
Elsewhere, Hargreaves Lansdown, IG Group, Redrow and Crest Nicholson were all weaker as they traded without entitlement to the dividend.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,112.23 0.41%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 23,926.63 0.60%
techMARK (TASX) 4,780.73 0.54%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 125.66p 2.85%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 1,145.00p 1.82%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,444.50p 1.69%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 186.30p 1.53%
Halma (HLMA) 3,157.00p 1.51%
3i Group (III) 1,337.50p 1.48%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 624.20p 1.43%
Glencore (GLEN) 328.60p 1.36%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,444.50p 1.33%
St James's Place (STJ) 1,616.50p 1.32%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Entain (ENT) 2,330.00p -1.98%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,420.50p -1.32%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,809.50p -0.65%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,551.00p -0.43%
Fresnillo (FRES) 788.80p -0.40%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,341.00p -0.37%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,426.40p -0.18%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 374.80p -0.16%
BHP Group (BHP) 1,888.60p -0.16%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,796.00p -0.14%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Darktrace (DARK) 950.00p 3.66%
Reach (RCH) 389.00p 2.91%
Network International Holdings (NETW) 374.00p 2.58%
Investec (INVP) 299.30p 2.39%
Draper Esprit (GROW) 1,162.00p 2.29%
Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 1,018.00p 2.21%
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 2,405.00p 2.12%
Centrica (CNA) 54.88p 2.12%
Ibstock (IBST) 220.20p 2.04%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 392.70p 2.00%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Harbour Energy (HBR) 368.00p -3.97%
IG Group Holdings (IGG) 834.50p -2.34%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 351.60p -2.22%
Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 1,044.00p -1.51%
Redrow (RDW) 708.00p -1.37%
SSP Group (SSPG) 268.20p -1.29%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 322.80p -1.16%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 409.00p -1.02%
888 Holdings (888) 473.20p -1.00%
Greencoat UK Wind (UKW) 138.20p -1.00%