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According to Reuters, the index was down 0.1 per cent to 5,528.04 points in London at 12:18 following the news, with mining stocks among the biggest fallers.
Rio Tinto, Anglo American, BHP Billiton, Xstrata and Lonmin were down by between 0.4 per cent and 1.1 per cent as prices of metals edged lower.
However, financial stocks helped limit the losses, with Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Standard Chartered adding as much as 3.5 per cent.
But it was investment company Schroders that recorded the largest gain, adding 4.7 per cent after it revealed an 11 per cent increase in full-year profit.
The Bank of England's decision to keep the base rate at 0.5 per cent and hold QE at £200 billion was in line with predictions.
Vicky Redwood of Capital Economics forecast before the announcement that the base rate will probably not change until 2011.
Posted by Clive Arneil
