London close: Shares tread water after central banks sit tight

A lack of action by Europe's central banks left London shares treading water on Thursday, although supermarkets provided a boost.The European Central Bank left its base rate unchanged at 0.05% but addressed fears about the lacklustre Eurozone economy by saying policymakers would take more action on monetary easing if necessary.The Bank of England also decided to keep interest rates at 0.5% and asset purchases at £375bn, as predicted by analysts.Economists said it was not surprising the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) kept interest rates steady at its November meeting amid growing signs that the UK's fragile economic is running out of steam.Analysts forecast that UK rates were unlikely to rise until the middle of next year at the earliest.Howard Archer at IHS Global Insight said: "We believe expectations of a delayed interest rate hike will be reinforced by lower forecasts for GDP growth and consumer price inflation."The FTSE 100 Index, which closed 12.01 points up at 6551.15, got some support from rising supermarket shares after Morrisons faced a 6.3% fall in like-for-like sales in the third quarter but was optimistic about Christmas.After a torrent of bad news from the UK's big supermarkets, investors heaved a sigh of relief at the positive update, lifting Morrisons by 10.1p to 172.5p. Its rivals also got a boost, with Tesco gaining 5.75p to 181.5p and Sainsbury advancing 14.9p to 262.2p.RSA Insurance was leading the Footsie fallers down with a 24p drop to 460.1p after it said its underwriting result in the quarter was weak overall and posted a 9% fall in premiums.Waste group Shanks increased 1.5p to 93.5p as it revealed problems in its Benelux business, but said other divisions were doing well.Telecoms group BT sparked up 0.1p to 371.4p after a court gave an interim ruling on Wednesday that BSkyB must allow BT to show its Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2 channels on BT's Youview set-top box.Market MoverstechMARK 2,795.27 +0.05%FTSE 100 6,551.15 +0.18%FTSE 250 15,515.13 -0.07%FTSE 100 - RisersRandgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,074.00p +8.21%Experian (EXPN) 999.50p +6.33%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 172.50p +6.22%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 262.20p +6.03%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 470.40p +5.92%Tullow Oil (TLW) 507.50p +3.68%Tesco (TSCO) 181.50p +3.27%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,088.00p +3.13%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,033.00p +2.68%Standard Chartered (STAN) 960.00p +2.56%FTSE 100 - FallersRSA Insurance Group (RSA) 460.10p -4.96%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,259.00p -2.85%Persimmon (PSN) 1,437.00p -1.71%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,413.50p -1.57%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,053.00p -1.40%Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,043.00p -1.32%London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 2,049.00p -1.25%easyJet (EZJ) 1,553.00p -1.08%TUI Travel (TT.) 403.50p -1.03%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,794.00p -0.99%FTSE 250 - RisersSpire Healthcare Group (SPI) 299.30p +5.39%Amec (AMEC) 1,067.00p +5.33%Supergroup (SGP) 819.00p +5.13%Aveva Group (AVV) 1,407.00p +3.99%Smith (DS) (SMDS) 277.00p +3.94%Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 342.70p +3.60%Debenhams (DEB) 66.60p +3.58%Spectris (SXS) 1,898.00p +3.21%Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 102.50p +3.12%Ultra Electronics Holdings (ULE) 1,775.00p +2.66%FTSE 250 - FallersPlaytech (PTEC) 635.50p -8.50%Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 45.30p -7.44%Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 2,300.00p -7.30%Polymetal International (POLY) 530.00p -4.50%Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,882.00p -4.47%Big Yellow Group (BYG) 528.00p -3.83%Halfords Group (HFD) 486.20p -3.34%esure Group (ESUR) 215.00p -3.15%Zoopla Property Group (WI) (ZPLA) 196.50p -3.01%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 4,875.00p -2.79%