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UK stocks rose slightly at early Thursday as traders looked to ahead to a decision from the Bank of England slated for midday.
At 0820, the benchmark FTSE 100 index was down 5.02 points, or less than 0.1%, at 7,269.79, amid the release of some mixed corporate earnings updates.
The Bank of England is expected to rise rates for three years, and trim its bond-buying target in a bid to stave of inflation pressures.
In corporate news, Telecoms giant BT reported a fall in profit in the first half of the year as higher finance expenses and a weakness in its enterprise and global business weighed on performance.
Supermarket giant J Sainsbury swung to a profit in the first half of the year owing to lower costs and an uptick in sales.
Sportswear retailer JD Sports Fashion said it may be forced to unwind its acquisition of Footasylum after the Competition and Markets Authority blocked the deal.
The CMA concluded that the competitive threat from 'direct to consumer does not extend to Footasylum and that JD would have an incentive to worsen the offer in Footasylum to the detriment of both consumers and suppliers,' JD Sports said.
Low-cost airline Wizz Air swung to a first-half profit as lifting of pandemic restriction sparked an improvement in passenger demand.
For the six months to 30 September 2021, pre-tax profit was €410.8 million compared with a loss of €71.3 million year-on-year as revenue increased by 86.8% to €880.4 million.
Food and beverage ingredients supplier Tate & Lyle reported that first-half profit more than halved owing to writedown on the sale of its Americas primary products business.
Medical technology business Smith+Nephew reported an uptick in third-quarter revenue, but said it expected to report revenue at the low end of its guidance following the impact of pandemic and supply chain woes.