London pre-open: Stocks seen lower ahead of BoE announcement

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to fall at the open on Thursday ahead of the latest Bank of England policy announcement and amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East.

The FTSE 100 was called to open around 15 points lower.

The BoE is widely expected to leaves rates unchanged at 4.25% when it announces its decision at midday.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said "debate is likely to be heated both within the MPC and outside it".

"While yesterday's data showed inflation cooling more slowly, the dovish chorus remains loud, still questioning the reliability of ONS data and worried that the budget might be doing more harm than good to the UK economy," she said.

"Markets now expect the BoE to stand pat this month, but signal a cut in August."

Investors will also be mulling the latest policy announcement from the Federal Reserve, which kept the benchmark rate unchanged at 4.25% to 4.50% on Wednesday for the fourth consecutive meeting and signalled two cuts by the end of the year. The Fed also downgraded its growth forecasts for the next two years.

In corporate news, telecommunications firm Vodafone said it has appointed Pilar L�pez to take over as chief financial officer, with effect from 1 October.

Pilar will succeed Luka Mucic and will begin a period of handover before her formal appointment as CFO on 1 December.

Hotel operator Whitbread said that it had continued to make "good progress" on each of its key strategic priorities despite facing "a challenging market backdrop" in the UK.

In Germany, Whitbread said it was "trading strongly" and that it remains on course to deliver profitability in FY26.

Retail conglomerate Frasers Group said it has walked away from the Revolution Beauty bidding process, just 10 days after confirming its interest.

In a statement to the market, the Sports Direct and Evans Cycles owner confirmed that it "does not intend to make an offer for Revolution Beauty".