LONDON MARKETS: U.K. Stocks Rise For Second Day After BOE Minutes

By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks closed in positive territory on Wednesday after minutes from the Bank of England's June meeting showed all members voted in favor of keeping rates at a record low.

The FTSE 100 index advanced 0.2% to 6,778.56, building on a 0.2% gain from Tuesday.

Helping lift the benchmark, shares of Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB) picked up 1.8% after the oil giant confirmed it has completed the sale of 78 million shares of Woodside Petroleum Ltd. . Shares of Woodside dropped 4.6%. Oil prices were also higher for most of the London session amid sectarian violence in Iraq that could disrupt the country's oil supply. On Wednesday, Iraq's largest oil refinery was attacked by Sunni militants using machine guns and mortars, according to media reports. However, at the time of the European close, crude-oil futures had slipped into negative.

Investors in London also found support in the minutes from the Bank of England's June meeting. All nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee voted in favor of leaving the key interest rate at a record low of 0.5% and making no changes to its 375 billion pound ($636 billion) asset-purchase program.

After BOE Governor Mark Carney last week said rates could rise sooner that markets currently expect, speculation grew that MPC member Martin Weale had voted in favor of tightening policy.

"It still looks like a rate rise will be a 2015 event, although, should the run of strong U.K. data continue, there is a chance that a rate rise may happen around the time of the November Inflation Report," said Jake Trask, corporate dealer at UKForex, in a note.

BOE officials did signal in the minutes that a rate rise could come before the end of the year, but only if they assess that the economy can cope with higher borrowing costs. The pound (GBPUSD) slipped after the minutes, trading at $1.6950, down from $1.6966 ahead of the release.

Back in corporate news, shares of Premier Foods PLC tumbled 9.6% outside the main index in London, after the food producer warned that "Power Brands" sales for the second quarter are anticipated to be negative and below the company's expectations due to subdued grocery markets.

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