Around 1100 GMT, the British central bank is likely to raise its key lending rate by 50 basis points to 1.75%, its highest level since late-2008 at the start of the global financial crisis.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was flat at 7,444.93, while the domestically focussed midcap index held its ground at 20,096.10.

Shares of Unilever Plc fell 0.8%, weighing the most in the FTSE 100, after Ben & Jerry's independent board said the company had frozen its directors' salaries last month as a pressure tactic.

(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)