By Sruthi Shankar and Shubham Batra
(Reuters) -The UK's blue-chip index ended little changed on Monday as gains in precious metal miners were offset by losses in life insurers and investors turned cautious ahead of major central bank decisions and earnings later this week.
The FTSE 100 ended flat but touched its highest level since Jan. 11 earlier in the session, as shares of oil majors BP (LON:BP) and Shell (LON:RDSa) rose nearly 1.0%.
Precious metal miners topped the sectoral chart, rising 2.0%, and hovered around their two-week highs after gold prices firmed as rising tensions in the Middle East lifted demand for the safe-haven asset. [GOL/]
The UK's midcap FTSE 250 dipped 0.1%.
Investors are awaiting rate decisions from the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of England (BoE) later this week. While policymakers are widely expected to hold interest rates, traders will closely watch for any commentary on the potential for rate cuts.
The British public's expectations of a drop in inflation for the 12 months ahead fell to 3.9% in November and 3.5% in December from 4.2% in October, as per a survey that will help the BoE decide whether to signal a move towards rate cuts.
Ryanair (LON:0RYA) jumped 4.0% after slipping during the session. The budget airline trimmed its profit forecast for the year ending March, after some online travel agents stopped selling its flights in December, forcing it to cut fares to fill seats.
"Ryanair also said it expects Q4 to remain its weakest quarter although with Easter coming at the end of March, we might see an end of quarter uplift," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.
Schroders (LON:SDR) fell 3.7% after Exane BNP Paribas (EPA:BNPP) downgraded the asset manager's stock to "underperform", pointing to pressures in its core business as flows remain anaemic and cost pressures stay high.
Vape distributor Chill Brands (LON:CHLL) Group dropped 26.9% after the British government looked to ban the sale of disposable vapes to prevent their use by children.