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(Noon): News that the Bank of England had voted unanimously against increasing its quantitative easing programme at its latest meeting hit shares but sent the pound higher.
The vote surprised those who were hoping to see signs of more stimulus measures from the Bank.
The pound rose 0.4% against the dollar to $1.5280 and was 0.5% higher against the euro at 1.1579 euros.
The FTSE 100 shed early gains to stand 18.60 points lower at 6,537.75.
"The minutes have dampened speculation that Mr Carney's arrival might prompt an injection of additional monetary stimulus sooner rather than later," said Chris Saint, head of currency dealing at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Investors will also be keeping a keen eye on the US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, who is due to testify before the House Financial Services Committee later. His comments will be studied for further clues as to when the US central bank will begin to wind down its bond-buying programme.
Among individual shares, Smiths Group fell 2.6% after saying that annual operating profits would be up to £15m lower than expected because of contract problems at its Smiths Detection business.
The firm said its Smiths Detection business had identified three contracts where outcomes were "anticipated to be materially adverse to previous expectations".
Mining shares rose after BHP Billiton reported record annual iron ore output, with shares in BHP up 2.1%.
Source: BBC News - Business http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11899862#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
