European stocks push lower at open

LONDON: Europe's stock markets weakened at the open on Thursday as dealers awaited an interest rate decision from the Bank of England.

In initial deals, the British capital's benchmark FTSE 100 index of major blue-chip firms shed almost 0.1 percent to 7,373.11 points.

In the eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX 30 lost 0.2 percent to 12,524.12 points and the CAC 40 in Paris also dipped 0.2 percent to 5,205.18 points compared with the closing levels on Wednesday.

Later on Thursday, the Bank of England (BoE) is widely expected to leave its key interest rate unchanged at a record-low 0.25 percent, despite surging high inflation.

Britain's annual inflation rate accelerated to 2.9 percent in August, mainly on rising prices for motor fuels and clothing, official data showed earlier this week.

The British central bank's chief task is to try and keep the rate close to a government-set target of 2.0 percent.