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(Alliance News) - Share prices in London were higher on Thursday with central banks remaining in focus after the US Federal Reserve boosted stocks and knocked the dollar by matching the European Central Bank's dovish tone.In the UK, the Bank of England's policy-setting Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to maintain interest rates and other policy measures unchanged. The minutes of this week's meeting said that recent UK economic data have been in line with expectations but that downside risks have increased.The MPC cut its forecast for UK second-quarter gross domestic product to flat quarter-on-quarter from up 0.2%, saying the underlying economic growth rate in the UK has weakened slightly in the first half of 2019 from a year ago.This evening, BoE Governor Mark Carney speaks at the Mansion House bankers' and merchants' dinner at 2100 BST.The FTSE 100 index was up 27.93 points, or 0.4%, at 7,431.47 Thursday midday. The FTSE 250 was up 156.03 points, or 0.8%, at 19,402.30, while the AIM All-Share was up 0.5% at 936.27.The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.4% at 12,603.25. The Cboe UK 250 was up 0.8% at 17,391.90 while the Cboe UK Small Companies was flat at 11,656.65.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris and DAX 30 in Frankfurt were up 0.7% and 1.0% higher, respectively, in early afternoon trade."One dovish central bank in a week is perhaps an outlier, but two is a trend," observed Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG."The Fed has opened the door to rate cuts, with Jerome Powell firmly dovish in last night's meeting and, crucially, in the press conference as well. Markets were expecting a dovish outlook from the US central bank, but many were loathe to think that the Fed would be even more dovish," said Beauchamp."Indices have rallied on the news, while the dollar has weakened, with the latter move resulting in a very frustrating week for EURUSD traders; those trying to sell EURUSD after Draghi's speech now appear to be scrambling to buy back the pair, as investors seek to guess which of the two will move first, and how fast," Beauchamp added.The Fed on Wednesday left its key interest rate unchanged at the range of 2.25% to 2.5%, even as it 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 US economy. Inflation continued to run below the target, the central bank noted. The US decision comes after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi earlier this week indicated that his institution was considering introducing stimulus to bolster the eurozone economy.On Wall Street, stocks are pointed towards a positive session in the wake of the Fed meeting. The Dow Jones is seen gaining 0.8% at the open, with the S&P 500 up 0.9% and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.2%.The dollar fell following the Fed announcement. The euro was quoted at USD1.1301 at midday Thursday, up from USD1.1217 late Wednesday. The pound traded at USD1.2711 versus USD1.2632 late Wednesday.In the UK, the Tory race to become the next prime minister enters its final phase at Westminster as rivals compete to take on Boris Johnson.Former foreign secretary Johnson appears certain to make it through to the next stage of the process, having topped the ballot in each of the three rounds of the contest so far and securing the votes of 143 of the 313 Tory MPs.Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove and Sajid Javid also remain in the contest, but two rounds of voting on Thursday will whittle the field down to a final pairing.At each round the MP with the lowest total will be eliminated, with the final announcement due to be made at 6pm.In economic data, UK retail sales growth slowed in May amid a weaker performance from the clothing category. On a year-on-year basis, sales volume rose 2.3%, though this was slower than the 2.7% recorded in April. Retail sales fell 0.5% in May on the previous month, led by a fall of 4.5% in clothing sales."This strong decline in clothing stores follows relatively high levels in recent months," the ONS noted, with clothing sales down 0.3% on a year-on-year basis.The ONS said anecdotal evidence from retailers suggested that the fall in clothing sales was due to poor weather as consumers held off on their summer clothing purchases.Gold gained as the dollar weakened following the Fed announcement. An ounce of the precious metal was quoted at USD1,381.74 at midday, up from USD1,344.50 late Wednesday.This boosted London-listed gold miners such as Fresnillo, up 5.5%, Hochschild Mining, up 5.1%, and Centamin, up 4.9%. Also higher in the FTSE 100 on Thursday was Halma, after UBS raised the hazard detection firm to Neutral from Sell. Halma shares were up 2.4%. At the bottom of the large-cap index was Evraz, down 5.3% after the Russian steelmaker said senior company executives and a major investor completed the previously announced 1.7% stake sale in the company. Non-Executive Chair Alexander Abramov, Chief Executive Officer Alexander Frolov, Non-Executive Director Eugene Shvidler and Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich have collectively sold 24.9 million shares at 635 pence each, equating to GBP158.1 million in total. The company was not a party to the share sale and will not receive any proceeds from the placing. Boosting the FTSE 250 was news of a takeover approach for BCA Marketplace, sending the stock up 22% to 236.60 pence.BCA, which buys and sells used cars, said it is in advanced talks with TDR Capital regarding a possible 243 pence per share cash offer for the company. Should BCA declare a dividend, then the offer price will reduced accordingly, it noted.The deal values BCA as a whole at GBP1.91 billion.The 243p offer price represents a 25% premium to BCA's closing 195p share price on Wednesday. Under UK takeover rules, TDR is required to make an offer by July 18, or walk away.Home furnishings retailer Dunelm was up 6.5% after the firm said it expects its full-year results to be "ahead" of its previous expectations following "strong" trading in May and June.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 during the same period 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 early April, Dunelm had forecast pretax profit at the top of the analyst range of GBP115.6 million to GBP118.5 million. In financial 2018, Dunelm reported underlying pretax profit of GBP102.0 million.It was a much worse session for fellow retailer Dixons Carphone. Its shares slumped 12% after the mobile phone and electricals seller warned that an increasingly changing UK mobile market will further hurt results in the new 2020 financial year. For the year ended April 27, the phone and electrical goods retailer sank to a GBP259 million pretax loss from a GBP289 million profit the year prior. This was after revenue fell 1.0% to GBP10.43 billion from GBP10.53 billion the year before.The company expects its UK mobile division to be significantly loss making in 2020 financial year, with sales and profit growth in the Electricals division across all operating regions.Dixons Carphone proposed a 4.50 pence per share final dividend, down from 7.75p the year prior. Total 2019 financial payout stood at 6.75p, down from 11.25p. The retailer expects total dividend for 2020 financial to be flat year-on-year.London Midday is available to subscribers as an email newsletter. Contact info@alliancenews.com