Bank's rate decision drives FTSE lower

The surprise decision by the Bank of England to lower interest rates today helped push share prices lower as investors wondered whether this was a signal of poorer than expected economic growth. The FTSE 100 index closed down 81.70 points at 3,597. ICI suffered a profits warning and saw its shares fall 14p to 190p because of problems with its fragrances unit that supplies perfumes after the failed installation of new software – it is the lowest share price in a decade. Shell dropped 18.5p to 360p after forecasting a drop in oil prices and rising pension fund costs later...