By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks seesawed Thursday, with
banking and oil shares posting gains while miners were pulled
lower.
The FTSE 100 was up less than 3 points at 6,659.73. The
benchmark on Wednesday finished 0.4% higher on fading prospects of
an early interest-rate increase by the Bank of England.
Shares in Carillion PLC gained 2.8% after the construction and
support services firm laid out its business plan for a merger with
Balfour Beatty , signaling it is still pursuing the deal. Off the
benchmark, shares in Balfour Beatty rose 1.9%.
Banking stocks on Thursday rose, adding to gains in the previous
session for the interest-rate sensitive sector. Royal Bank of
Scotland picked up 0.8%, Barclays PLC up 0.5% and HSBC higher by
0.7%.
But miners struggled, with Rio Tinto down 1.8%, Glencore PLC
fell 1.5% and BHP Billiton lost 1%.
The pound (GBPUSD) bought $1.6672, down from $1.6695 late
Wednesday. The pound was shoved lower Wednesday after the Bank of
England cut its annual wage-growth view, which the market saw as
lessening the odds that the central bank will hike its benchmark
rate this year from its current record low 0.5%.
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires