London pre-open: Stocks seen muted ahead of BoE announcement
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Thursday 06 Nov 2025
(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set for a muted start on Thursday as investors eyed the latest policy announcement from the Bank of England and prepared to sift through a raft of corporate releases
The FTSE 100 was called to open five points lower.
Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, said: "This is a busy week for the UK. There has been a large amount of corporate news, then the Chancellor Rachel Reeves paved the way for tax rises at this month's budget. However, the main event this week is the Bank of England meeting.
"Interest rates are expected to remain on hold, and there is only a 24% chance of a rate cut, however there is a whisper, that is getting louder, that the BOE should surprise markets and cut rates today due to the deteriorating economic backdrop, and weaker than expected inflation for September that did not reach the BOE's expected peak of 4%."
Brooks said there are two main points to watch out for at this meeting.
"Firstly, this will be the first time the Monetary Policy Report will contain detailed sections outlining each member's vote decision, which is designed to increase transparency at the MPC, and combined with the vote split today, it could help investors to determine the timing of the next rate cut."
The BoE decision is due at midday.
In corporate news, supermarket retailer Sainsbury's said it expected annual retail underlying operating profit of more than £1bn and was adding an extra £150m from the sale of its banking unit to share buybacks this year and in 2026/27.
The company delivered a 0.2% rise in retail underlying profit to £504m for the 28 weeks to 13 September.
Medical products and technologies group Convatec said that Jonny Mason had been appointed chief executive officer and Fiona Ryder chief financial officer, both with immediate effect.
Mason, who joined the firm as CFO in January 2022, stepped into the interim CEO role on 4 August. Ryder joined the group in early 2022, serving as group financial controller prior to her promotion.
RS Group said it expects to hit full-year targets after performing as expected in the first half ended 30 September, with both revenues and adjusted profits slipping on the back of continued weak market conditions.
The industrial and electrical products group reported a 1% fall in like-for-like revenues for the half, but moved into marginal LFL growth in the second quarter, while adjusted pre-tax profit was down 6% year-on-year due to the impact of cost inflation and increased investments.
Updates and results were also out from Diageo, BT Group, AstraZeneca, National Grid, Auto Trader, Vistry, Watches of Switzerland and ITV, among others.
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