- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- Guardiola claims Premier League won't delay season for Man City
- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
- Gauff fights back to reach China Open final
- Recovering Stokes ruled out of first Pakistan Test
- Hezbollah battles troops on border as Israel pounds Lebanon
- Alcaraz, Sinner breeze into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Bagnaia wins Japan MotoGP sprint to cut Martin's lead
- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva
- 'Bullet for democracy': Trump returns to site of rally shooting
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
- Boston beat Denver in NBA exhibition season opener, but Jokic says omens are good
- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
- Ohtani set for MLB playoff debut as Dodgers face Padres
- Pogba's drug ban cut to 18 months from four years
Pound slumps after tepid BoE rate hike
The pound tumbled after the Bank of England raised interest rates by just a quarter of a percentage point despite surging inflation, while oil prices jumped after OPEC+ only modestly hiked production.
The quarter-point hike apparently disappointed investors looking for the BoE to act more forcefully to combat surging prices as the central bank now expects annual inflation to rise above 10 percent this year and the economy to contract later this year.
It also followed the Federal Reserve's decision Wednesday to raise US interest rates by half a percentage point as inflation soars also in the world's biggest economy.
The British pound plunged more than two percent to $1.2362 after the BoE decision, although it recovered some ground.
"Although the market had priced in a 0.25-percent (rate) rise, there had been some expectation that the Bank of England would... follow the lead of the Federal Reserve in increasing interest rates by 0.5 (percentage points)," Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter told AFP.
"The forecast that the UK economy will contract is also adding to sterling's decline."
The BoE said UK output was expected to contract in the final quarter of the year when inflation is set to enter double digits as household energy prices rise sharply, although the central bank doesn't forecast a full-blown recession for the moment.
"Uncertainty over inflation and growth puts rate setters in a tricky dilemma," said City Index analyst Fawad Razaqzada as it makes striking the right policy balance very difficult.
"So, the key risk facing the UK is not necessarily tighter policy, but uncertainty over monetary policy and, more to the point, stagflation," he added.
Central banks worldwide are raising interest rates, with inflation sitting at the highest levels in decades.
Prices are surging as economies reopen from pandemic lockdowns, and in the wake of the Ukraine war that is aggravating already high energy costs.
News that Turkish inflation soared to 70 percent in April highlighted the battle central bankers face in controlling prices.
European equities were benefitting from a relief rally on the tepid moves by central banks to raise interest rates as aggressive hikes would increase the chances of a recession.
But on Wall Street, where all three main indices closed up by about three percent Wednesday following the Fed update, stocks opened lower on Thursday.
- OPEC+ decision -
Inflation has been dragged higher globally in large part owing to surging energy prices.
As expected, Saudi Arabia, Russia and other key oil producers in the OPEC+ group agreed to another marginal increase in output as they weighed tight supply concerns due to the Ukraine war against risks to demand amid coronavirus restrictions in China.
That sent oil prices jumping by more than three percent to firmly above $110 per barrel.
Traders on Thursday digested also earnings updates from some of the world's biggest companies.
Shares in Airbus soared more than seven percent in Paris after the European aircraft maker said late Wednesday that its net profit more than tripled in the first quarter to 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion), despite the impact of sanctions against Russia.
The results confirm the company's recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic slammed the air travel industry in 2020.
- Key figures at around 1330 GMT -
London - FTSE 100: UP 1.4 percent at 7,596.97 points
Frankfurt - DAX: UP 1.0 percent at 14,105.04
Paris - CAC 40: UP 1.3 percent at 6,478.56
EURO STOXX 50: UP 1.0 percent at 3,761.06
New York - Dow: DOWN 0.7 percent at 33,811.20
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.4 percent at 20,793.40 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 3,067.76 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: Closed for a holiday
Brent North Sea crude: UP 3.4 percent at $113.83 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 3.3 percent at $111.33 per barrel
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0563 from $1.0625 on Wednesday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2404 from $1.2632
Euro/pound: UP at 85.16 pence from 84.06 pence
Dollar/yen: UP at 130.04 yen from 129.05 yen
burs-rl/kjm
L.Torres--PC