Leading London shares drifted in early deals today ahead of the Bank of England's rates decision announcement at lunchtime. At 0920, the FTSE was up just 12.0 points at 4060.6 Financials were mixed ahead of the BoE's decision, with investors still wary after the emergence of earnings fears earlier this week. Abbey National rose 9p to 617, while Alliance & Leicester was down 3p at 787. HBOS put on a strong 11.5p to 666.5 Insurers were also mixed, with Aviva down 1p at 520.5, while Prudential dropped 9p to 499. Royal & Sun Alliance was up 2.5p to 140.5 Oils gained marginally as tension grows in Iraq, with BP up 3.5p ahead at 417.5 and Shell up 3.5p at 402.5
In the telecom sector, BT added 4.25p to reach 200.5, while Vodafone eased back 2p to 119 on negative broker comment. Mobile group mm02 shed 0.5p to 52.5 Elsewhere, international hotel group Six Continents slumped 16.5p to 528.5 after the company reported a 24pc slide in annual profits. Anglo-Dutch publisher Reed Elsevier jumped 14p to 549 after it reiterated its 2002 growth forecast Drug giant AstraZeneca rose 21p to 2428 despite fears over deaths linked to its cancer treatment //www.fxcentre.com