LONDON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE is seen opening down
4 points to up 2 points on Wednesday, according to financial bookmakers,
mirroring a choppy session in Asia overnight as risk aversion took hold again.
The FTSE 100 .FTSE is seen opening flat to 0.1 percent lower after closing
up 40.77 points at 4,685.78 on Tuesday.
The focus is likely to be on the Bank of England (BoE) meeting minutes at
0830 GMT, with the market keen to see how the members voted when the central
bank increased its asset-buying total by a much bigger than expected 50 billion
pounds.
Analysts are mostly forecasting the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) was
unanimous in its decision to raise the quantitative easing total but given the
uncertainty surrounding the prospects for recovery, there is a risk of a split
vote for the first time since the asset buying began. [ID:nLI255002].
Ex-dividends will knock 9.65 points off the FTSE index, with British
American Tobacco (BATS.L), Hammerson (HMSO.L), HSBC (HSBA.L), Pearson (PSON.L),
Prudential (PRU.L), SABMiller (SAB.L), Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE.L) and
Thomson Reuters (TRIL.L) all set to lose their payout attraction.
