London pre-open: Stocks to edge up ahead of BoE

London stocks were set to edge up at the open on Thursday as investors eyed the latest policy announcement from the Bank of England.

The FTSE 100 was called to open 16 points higher at 7,090.

Kallum Pickering, senior economist at Berenberg, said: "We see a roughly even chance that the BoE could surprise markets today by signalling that it will end its planned asset purchases in August, instead of December as previously announced.

"While such a change would not have major economic consequences, it could take bond markets by surprise. Any commensurate jump in gilt yields could trigger a temporary correction in equity markets."

In corporate news, distribution specialist Bunzl said first-half revenue is expected to increase by around 1% at actual exchange rates and 6% - 7% at constant rates as a recovery in its base business, including the food service and retail sectors was largely offset by a fall in Covid-related orders.

Revenue guidance for the year remains unchanged and underlying revenue is expected to be moderately higher in 2021 compared to 2019 at constant rates, Bunzl said.

Fresnillo said production had stabilised and the outlook was improving after Covid-19 disrupted its operations in the previous financial year.

In a statement to the precious metals miner's annual general meeting, chairman Alejandro Baillères said Fresnillo's "full potential plan" was starting to take effect and that its new tunnel boring machine started operating successfully.

"Though some working restrictions remain in place, progress to date gives us cause for cautious optimism," Baillères said.