A meeting of US Federal Reserve policymakers is likely to concentrate minds on the London Stock Exchange next week, with investors anxious to know the scope of Fed measures to spur recovery. The FTSE 100 index on Friday finished at 5,677.89, a loss of 1.15 percent from the close of trade on October 22.
Analysts said that neither better than expected corporate results, notably at British Airways, nor encouraging British growth figures have been able to turn investor attention away from developments in Washington.
In Britain, the Bank of England at a meeting next Thursday is predicted to steer clear of stimulus measures while maintaining its record low benchmark interest rate at 0.50 percent. Investors therefore have been looking to the Fed for robust action on November 3.
But in recent days, in response to certain positive signals on US economic activity, expectations of far-reaching moves by the Fed - notably the purchase of bonds and other assets - have receded, unsettling the markets.
In corporate news next week, oil giant BP is to release its third quarter results, six months after the explosion and massive oil spill at a BP-leased rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The company last July announced a loss of 16.9 billion dollars in the second quarter, the largest quarterly corporate loss in British history that it attributed to provisions taken to meet the costs of the spill.