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(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are called higher on Thursday, after the Federal Reserve signalled the likelihood of US interest rate cuts in the months ahead.Meanwhile, among UK companies, Dixons Carphone swung to an annual loss, fellow retailer Dunelm expects annual profit ahead of expectations, and Essentra has continued to simplify its portfolio. IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open 30.0 points, or 0.3%, higher at 7,428.60 on Thursday. The FTSE 100 index closed down 39.50 points, or 0.5%, at 7,403.54 on Wednesday.The pound is quoted at USD1.2698 early Thursday, up from USD1.2632 at the London equities close on Wednesday. The euro was trading at EUR1.1274, up from USD1.1217 late Wednesday.The Federal Open Market Committee left the key US interest rate unchanged at the range of 2.25% to 2.5%, even as it signalled a more dovish tone going ahead, citing "uncertainties" about the economic outlook. The Fed said it would "act as appropriate to sustain the expansion", indicating there could be more accommodation to help the economy. Inflation continued to run below the target, the central bank noted. The word "patient" no longer appeared in the statement from the central bank about its rates moves going ahead, following a two-day meeting. The Fed also shifted to say economic activity was expanding at a "moderate rate", as opposed to more robust previous language. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said there was not much appetite at the meeting for cutting rates now. He said that while trade concerns were a major driver of sentiment, he was also monitoring potential downside trends to global growth, and no one event would determine policy. Powell also said he intends to serve his full four-year term at the helm of the central bank, after President Donald Trump had hinted he may consider steps to remove him. "The law is clear that I have a four-year term, and I fully intend to serve it," Powell told a press conference on Wednesday. In the US on Wednesday after the decision, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending up 0.2%, the S&P 500 up 0.3% and Nasdaq Composite up 0.4%."Equities extended rally as the Federal Reserve delivered a sufficiently dovish accompanying statement not only to meet the market's expectation, but also to surprise to some extent," commented Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior market analyst for London Capital Group.In Asia on Thursday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.6%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is up 2.4%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 1.0%.The Bank of Japan maintained its ultra-loose monetary policy as widely expected and kept its forward guidance unchanged on Thursday. The Policy Board of the BoJ voted 7-2 to maintain interest rate at negative 0.1% on current accounts that financial institutions maintain at the bank.The bank said it will purchase government bonds so that the yield of 10-year JGBs will remain at around zero percent.The Bank of Japan is showing no sign of shifting to a more dovish stance, despite the impending sales tax hike and the more dovish tone from the US Fed, Mark Williams, an economist at Capital Economics, said.In UK company news early Thursday, home furnishings retailer Dunelm said it expects its full year results to be "ahead" of its previous expectations following "strong" trading. Dunelm explained that it had been a "very good" year for like-for-like sales with performance particularly strong in May and June, helped a weaker performance the year prior. The FTSE 250-listed firm now expects to report pretax profit for the year ended June 27 of between GBP124 million and GBP126 million. In financial 2018, Dunelm reported underlying pretax profit of GBP102.0 million. In early April, Dunelm had forecast pretax profit at the top of the analyst range of GBP115.6 million to GBP118.5 million. Also amongst the mid caps, Essentra agreed to sell its Speciality Tapes unit for USD77 million in what its Chief Executive Officer Paul Forman described as "another significant move in the simplification of our portfolio".Phone and consumer electronics retailer Dixons Carphone reported it had sunk to a GBP259 million pretax loss for the financial year ended April from a GBP289 million profit the year prior. This was after it was hit by GBP547 million in one-off impairment costs and revenue feell 1.0% to GBP10.43 billion. Headline pretax profit - excluding one-off costs - narrowed to GBP298 million from GBP382 million the year prior. Evraz announced that major shareholder Roman Abramovich sold 11.3 million shares in the firm by means of a placing through a company associated with the Chelsea Football Club owner. Abramovich still has a 29% stake in Evraz after the sale.This is in addition to a sale of shares by three Evraz directors, including its chief executive and chair and a non-executive director, in the same placing. Together the three directors and Abramovich sold 24.9m shares, a 1.7% stake, at 635p per share, worth GBP158.1 million.The four still hold 60.7% of the steel maker, with a 60-day lock-in agreed.Still to come the economic calendar on Thursday, there are UK retail sales at 0930 BST, while in the US, initial and continuing jobless claims are due at 1330 BST.