LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Hugs The Flat Line Ahead Of BOE Minutes

By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The U.K.'s FTSE 100 hovered around the flat line on Wednesday, as investors waited for minutes from the Bank of England and with shares of British American Tobacco PLC adding pressure after a lackluster trading update.

The benchmark index was marginally higher at 6,373.41, after rallying 1.7% on Tuesday.

The Bank of England was in focus ahead of releasing minutes from its October policy-setting meeting. The minutes come out at 9:30 a.m. in London or 4:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Economists widely expect the minutes to show that seven of the nine-member Monetary Policy Committee voted in favor of keeping rates low and the quantitative-easing program unchanged.

Among stocks on the move in London, shares of British American Tobacco slumped 3.9% after the company reported a drop in nine-month revenue, hit by a slow economic recovery in Western Europe.

Mining firms were also dropping, tracking most metals lower. Shares of Fresnillo PLC dropped 0.7%, Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) fell 0.5% and Randgold Resources Ltd. lost 0.3%.

On a more upbeat note, shares of ARM Holdings PLC (ARMHY) climbed 3.5% after UBS lifted the chip maker to buy from neutral.

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