LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Wavers Ahead Of BOE Call, Osborne Statement

By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index was little changed on Thursday ahead of the monetary-policy decision from the Bank of England and the Chancellor of the Exchequer's update on the economy.

The benchmark traded slightly higher at 6,511.80 after closing in negative territory for a fourth straight day on Wednesday.

The U.K.'s central bank was in the spotlight as investors waited for its decision on interest rates due at noon London time, or 7 a.m. Eastern time. Most analysts expect the BOE to keep its key interest rate at a record low of 0.5% and make no changes to its 375-billion-pound ($614 billion) asset-purchase program.

"Indeed, having in August put in place its commitment to keep rates and its asset holdings unchanged until at least the unemployment rate falls to 7.0% -- and last week moved to take some of the heat out of the housing market by removing the eligibility of mortgage loans from the Funding for Lending Scheme -- the MPC is certain to keep its monetary policy settings unchanged," said analysts at Daiwa Capital Markets in a note.

Also on Thursday, the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne will deliver his autumn statement on the economy. The Daiwa analysts said that this should be his most upbeat statement yet, given the more positive economic backdrop.

"The previous growth forecasts of just 0.6% in 2013 and 1.8% for 2014 published by the [Office for Budget Responsibility] just six months ago seem likely to be revised up to around 1.5% and 2.5% respectively. So we would also expect a notable reduction in the forecast of government borrowing this fiscal year from the previous prediction of GBP120 billion," they said.

Among notable movers in London, miners posted some of the biggest gains, building on advances seen on Wednesday. Shares of Vedanta Resources PLC added 2.5%, Fresnillo PLC gained 2.1% and Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) picked up 1.6%.

Outside the main index, Drax Group PLC rallied 6% after J.P. Morgan Cazenove lifted the utility firm to overweight from neutral.

More must-reads from MarketWatch:

ECB preview: Pay close attention to what Draghi says about inflation

Why Europe will beat the U.S. in the 2014 stock-market throwdown

How to calculate the true cost of retirement

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires