London open: Markets pause ahead of BoE and ECB decisions

Markets opened broadly flat on Thursday morning as traders paused for breath following the heavy sell-off the day before, with all eyes on the Bank of England (BoE) and European Central Bank (ECB) as they prepare to announce their latest monetary policy decisions this afternoon.The FTSE 100 lost 2.1% of its value on Wednesday, falling to a level not seen since April 23rd, due to ongoing concerns that the Federal Reserve will soon begin to exit its quantitative easing programme owing to recent strength in economic data and hawkish comments from a number of Fed officials. Therefore, there is likely to be an element of caution ahead of Friday's all-important jobs report, which will give an indication of how the economy has fared in the second quarter.Disruptions due to a technical glitch at Euronext were also unnerving investors this morning, as markets were delayed early on with orders for equities, bonds and ETFs being affected."Euronext is investigating the issue but the delay has aggravated already nervous traders ahead of a big day of events," said Market Strategist Ishaq Siddiqi from ETX Capital. "Once the glitches are resolved, volatility is expected to run higher than usual as a flush of orders need to be booked!"BoE and ECBThe BoE is widely expected to remain on hold on both the Bank Rate (currently at a record low of 0.5%) and the asset purchase programme (at £375bn). Given the trio of better-than-expected surveys on the manufacturing, construction and service sectors out over the last few days, markets believe that the central bank will hold fire on to injecting more stimulus at Sir Mervyn King's last policy meeting as Governor.The ECB is also expected to leave policy unchanged following the 25 basis-point rate cut to 0.5% last month, though traders will be watching the following press conference with bank President Mario Draghi more closely.Research Analyst Joshua Mahony from Alpari said: "Markets will be on the lookout for any continued loose rhetoric regarding future monetary policy such as the negative rate comment a month ago as a precursor to a potential sell-off in the euro."Johnson Matthey surges after full-year resultsPlatinum refiner and chemicals group Johnson Matthey impressed the market this morning with its full-year results. The company saw underlying pre-tax profit slip from £426m to £389m, but this came in ahead of the £379m forecast. Following what it described as challenging year, the firm said it remains well positioned to grow its business over the medium and long term.Cyclical sectors however were out of favour early on as markets show an element of caution ahead of a busy day. Banking groups Barclays, RBS and Lloyds were heavy fallers, joined by mining peers Antofagasta, Anglo American and Fresnillo.Even Polymetal International was out of favour despite the precious metals mining company saying that it has encountered high-grade intersections at its Maminskoye development project in Russia.Insurance giant RSA was in demand after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to 'overweight', lifting its price target from 124p to 136p.Multinational oil and gas services company Wood Group was in the red despite landing a contract with The Dow Chemical Company for construction of an ethylene unit in Texas.easyJet fell despite reporting that it flew 3.4% more passengers and filled more seats on planes in May, according to the budget airline's traffic statistics released this morning.FTSE 100 - RisersJohnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,763.00p +6.84%Tesco (TSCO) 352.90p +2.11%Aggreko (AGK) 1,665.00p +1.90%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 115.00p +1.59%Rexam (REX) 520.50p +1.56%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 266.70p +1.48%AstraZeneca (AZN) 3,331.00p +1.20%BT Group (BT.A) 297.60p +1.19%Serco Group (SRP) 610.00p +1.08%Glencore Xstrata (GLEN) 320.65p +1.01%FTSE 100 - FallersBarclays (BARC) 310.20p -1.93%Wood Group (John) (WG.) 815.00p -1.39%Antofagasta (ANTO) 930.50p -1.12%Evraz (EVR) 129.00p -0.92%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,650.00p -0.90%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 325.70p -0.82%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,794.00p -0.75%easyJet (EZJ) 1,225.00p -0.73%Anglo American (AAL) 1,443.50p -0.72%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 61.59p -0.68%FTSE 250 - RisersHomeserve (HSV) 261.60p +6.51%ICAP (IAP) 373.20p +3.15%Man Group (EMG) 99.70p +2.73%Menzies(John) (MNZS) 734.00p +2.66%Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT) 890.00p +2.30%Diploma (DPLM) 557.50p +2.29%United Drug (UDG) 330.00p +2.10%Galliford Try (GFRD) 943.50p +2.00%Rank Group (RNK) 153.50p +1.79%Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 291.00p +1.75%FTSE 250 - FallersCarpetright (CPR) 604.00p -2.58%Henderson Group (HGG) 154.50p -2.22%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 224.70p -1.71%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 123.80p -1.59%Intu Properties (INTU) 337.90p -1.43%Mondi (MNDI) 812.50p -1.40%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 372.90p -1.38%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 41.30p -1.22%BH Macro Ltd. USD Shares (BHMU) 21.45 -1.20%Anite (AIE) 129.20p -1.15%