U.K. Stocks Retreat as Caution Sets in Before Fed Rate Decision

Britain’s blue-chip index has been trading marginally in the red in today’s session, with investors staying on the sidelines ahead of the Federal Reserve’s rate decision, due to be announced later today, after the UK market closes.

In the opening minutes, the benchmark FTSE 100 index fell 4.9 points or 0.08% to 6,224.31.

The Stoxx Europe 600 was down 0.1 per cent. Asian markets had mixed results, with the Japanese Nikkei 225 up 1.43 per cent but the Shanghai Composite down 2.1 per cent. U.S. stocks on Thursday were largely flat.

The policy review, which had begun Wednesday afternoon, reopened Thursday at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT), a Fed official said in an email. ING expects the Fed will be sensitive to any market reaction, therefore leave rates at their ultralow level this month, but may hint at an October move.

British blue-chips remained lower while the pound was little changed after the release of the U.K. retail-sales report for August (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/uk-retail-sales-rise-in-august-2015-09-17-5485330).

The group saw shares come under pressure after posting an 11.4% drop in like-for-live revenues across its theme park division following plunging visitor numbers and warned profits for the unit would be at the lower end of expectations.

Shares of Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN) lost 1% while BG Group PLC (BG.LN) shed 0.1%.