Also providing a lift were insurance firms, particularly Admiral, after the St Jude storm appears to have caused less damage that had been feared.

The UK’s six biggest energy providers will today stand before a group of MPs to face criticism over recent price rises.

Today’s data releases includes mortgage approvals and consumer credit, as well as M4 money supply and sterling lending.

Germany’s consumer confidence figures will also be unveiled. GfK’s forward-looking consumer sentiment indicator is pegged to climb to 7.2 in November from 7.1 the prior month.

Both retail sales and consumer confidence figures in the US will be released later today, with the former expected to remain little changed, while the latter is tipped to fall in October. The index for consumer sentiment will drop to 75 this month from 79.7 in September, economists forecast.

Later on the Fed will kick off its two-day policy meeting and will announce its decision on whether to alter its monetary policy a day later.

“Ever since the September meeting, investors have been left guessing when the Fed will first taper, with most guesses ranging from December to March,” Craig Erlam, Market Analyst at Alpari, pointed out.

“Unlike earlier this year, the Fed hasn’t given clear guidance about when this will now happen and may use tomorrow’s statement to provide it.”

BP has raised its dividend 5.6% to 9.5 cents a share after third quarter earnings fell less than expected. Profit adjusted for one-time items and inventory changes declined to $3.7bn from $5bn a year earlier, beating $3.4bn forecast.

Wood Group rose on the news it has secured a two-year contract extension from Shell UK to deliver integrated services to two gas plants in Scotland, continuing a previous contract awarded in 2007. The deal is the eighth North Sea contract extension awarded to the group in the past year.

Meanwhile, leading the downside was Lloyds Banking Group, which swung to a pre-tax profit of £1.7bn in the first nine months of the year from a loss of £607m in the same period in 2012, but saw a £750m increase in its PPI bill, prompting shares firmly lower. Altogether, the company has paid £8bn in relation to PPI.

Standard Chartered was also lower after it revealed it had cut around 2,000 jobs this year, with the trend set to continue. The firm reported a slight increase in operating profit for the year to date due to tight cost controls. In a trading update for the nine months ended September 30th, the financial services company said it delivered a resilient performance despite an uncertain macro environment.

ITV shares were hit by a downgrade from Berenberg, which reduced its rating on the stock from ‘hold’ to ‘sell’, although increased its target price from 91p to 155p.

On the FTSE 250, transport group Stagecoach revealed trading had worsened in UK rail but improved in the US Megabus unit in the first 24 weeks of the year. Ahead of a meeting with analysts and on the day the East Coast franchise prospectus is released, the group said trading remained “satisfactory” and that there was “no significant change” to expected annual earnings.

Source: ShareCast