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FTSE 100 preview: Shares wait for rates

By Reuters
Updated: 03:00 EDT, 10 February 2011

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The FTSE 100 index is expected to gain on a busy day of corporate results but with moves likely to be muted ahead of the Bank of England's interest rate decision.

Dealers monitor their screens on the trading floor of IG Index in London

Waiting game: Economy news will shape sentiment today.

Rio Tinto, Shire, Diageo, Rolls-Royce and Smith & Nephew all report on Thursday.

The UK blue chip index looks set to rise 4 to 11 points, or as much as 0.2%, on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers.

The index closed down 39.04 points, or 0.6%, at 6,052.29 on Wednesday, retreating after ending on Tuesday at its best level since May 2008.

'With a new high for the year in place, the key price level to watch is 5,997.38. This is last week's close,' Enis Mehmet, an analyst at Autochartist, said.

'The failure to rally sharply higher after making a new high for the year could be construed as a sign of impending weakness,' he said.

Financial markets see a one-in-five chance that the Bank of England will raise interest rates from their record low 0.5% later on Thursday after what is likely to be its most finely balanced decision in years.

Investors were also waiting for UK December industrial output figures.

On the other side of the Atlantic, US weekly jobless claims are due.

The global miner surprised investors by more than doubling its full-year dividend and promising to return $5bn to shareholders by 2012, looking to soak up bumper cashflows after it reported a record second-half profit.

Diageo expects higher profit growth this year due to a growing recovery in its key emerging markets after it missed forecasts with a 9% rise in half-year earnings.

There will be results today from Shire, Rolls-Royce, Smith & Nephew, Hargreaves Lansdown and Paragon.

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