British stock market awaits company results, BoE decision

London investors will track crucial results next week from the energy and aviation sectors, as well as the latest monetary policy meeting of the Bank of England.

London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index ended the week on Friday at 5,188.52 points, a slide of 2.16 percent from a week earlier amid concerns about the pace of the global recovery.

Fourth-quarter results are due next week from British energy giant BP on Tuesday, Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday and BG Group on Friday.

In the airline sector, Irish no-frills carrier Ryanair and heavyweight British Airways are scheduled to issue their latest earnings on Monday and Friday, respectively.

On Thursday, drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline will give fourth-quarter numbers and mobile phone giant Vodafone is slated to publish a trading update.

Away from the earnings arena, investors will also focus on an interest rate decision from the Bank of England on Thursday. In March last year, the central bank cut its key rate to a record low 0.5 percent — where it has remained — and launched a radical policy to boost lending and help drag Britain out of a sharp downturn.

Official data this week showed that the British economy narrowly emerged from recession in the fourth quarter of 2009, with anaemic growth of just 0.1 percent.

However, that dashed market expectations of 0.4-percent expansion and created considerable uncertainty over what might be the central bank’s next move.

AFP