* FTSE 100 down 0.3 pct
* Equities under pressure as sterling strengthens
* Miners hit as copper sinks to 6 year low
* RSA falls, with focus on prospect of Zurich bid (Recasts)
By Alistair Smout and Liisa Tuhkanen
LONDON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index edgedlower on Thursday, with sterling strength and weak commodityprices knocking exporters and miners respectively, ahead of awave of central bank releases.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was down 0.3 percent at6,730.00 points by 0956 GMT.
In what has been dubbed "Super Thursday", the Bank ofEngland will release at 1100 GMT data including its interestrate decision, policymakers' votes and a summary of theirdebate, and quarterly economic forecasts including inflation.
It is likely to reveal its policymakers have split overinterest rates, adding to expectations that the British centralbank is heading for its first increase in borrowing costs innearly a decade.
Sterling climbed ahead of the releases, putting shares,especially of exporting companies, under pressure.
Commodity prices remained weak, with copper hitting asix-year low. Miners fell 2 percent, and analystssaid falling metals prices may mean the BoE holds off fromraising interest rates for longer.
"While strong growth and a tighter labour market have ...(prompted) speculation on the beginning of rate normalisationstill this year, the renewed commodity price fall as well aspersistent sterling strength are the wild cards for the BoE tohold policy until next year," said David Meier, senior economistat Julius Baer.
Among top fallers, RSA fell 1.7 percent. AlthoughRSA's own pretax profit beat expectations, Swiss rival ZurichInsurance, which is interested in bidding for RSA,said it would not overpay for the British insurer.
"In the short term, we expect RSA to trade based on theprobability of a takeover bid, rather than fundamentalvaluation," Bernstein analysts said in a note.
"Hence, on balance we expect the stock to trade down in thevery short term."
Other insurers rose, with Old Mutual up 3 percentafter strong results.
Aviva also benefited from well-received earnings,adding 0.9 percent after posting forecast-beating half-yearoperating profit.
BP and Anglo American contributed toThursday's falls as they traded without the attraction of theirlatest dividend payouts, down 3.1 percent and 3.5 percentrespectively. (Editing by Catherine Evans)