London's FTSE 100 falls 1% as miners and tech weigh; BoE holds rates

The FTSE 100 index fell 1% to 10,399.70 points, while the Bank of England kept interest rates unchanged at 3.75%, defying inflation concerns.

Britain's FTSE 100 fell on Thursday, pressured by miner and technology shares, while the Bank of England left interest rates unchanged, as widely ‌expected. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed 1% lower at 10,399.70 points, while the midcap FTSE 250 eased 0.1%. The BoE held rates at 3.75%, with only two of the nine-member committee voting in favour of a rate hike amid persistent inflation concerns. The U.S. Federal ‌Reserve also held rates on Wednesday, though nine Fed policymakers forecast a rate hike this year.

"The conditions don’t seem ‌in place for sustained inflationary pressure. So we think the BoE will be able to avoid the kind of monetary tightening that the European Central Bank has already started to deliver and that the Fed hinted at last night," said Luke Bartholomew, deputy chief economist, at Aberdeen.