FTSE 100 slides after dovish BoE; Rio Tinto abandons Glencore merger

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FTSE 100 down 0.9% and FTSE 250 down 1%

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Shell misses profit expectations, drags energy stocks lower

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Bank of England holds rates after narrow 5-4 vote

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Rio Tinto and Glencore scrap merger talks

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Software, tech stocks rebound from global rout

(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European ?stock markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window. Updates at market close)

By Tharuniyaa Lakshmi

Feb 5 (Reuters) -

Britain's FTSE 100 closed ?lower on Thursday as investors priced in further interest rate cuts following dovish comments from ?the Bank of England, while Glencore slid after Rio ?Tinto said it was no ?longer in takeover talks with the miner.

The blue-chip index closed down 0.9%, easing from a record high touched ?in the prior session. The domestically focused mid-cap ?FTSE 250 dipped 1%.

The BoE held rates at 3.75% after an unexpectedly narrow 5-4 vote, and indicated cuts ahead if an expected fall ?in inflation proves sustainable, with analysts perceiving ?the split ?to be a more dovish stance than anticipated earlier.

Banking stocks tumbled, with HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group and NatWest down 2.3%-6% as investors priced in a much higher ?chance of a near-term rate cut. The pound fell 0.76%.

"It's now merely a matter of timing as to when the MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) will deliver further easing," said Matthew Ryan, head of market strategy at Ebury.

"While we think that the next meeting in March will be a 'live' one, we are currently favouring an April ?cut, at ?which point officials should have further clarity on the progress towards the inflation mandate."

London-listed metals fell, dragged lower by Rio Tinto, which fell about 2.6%, and ?Glencore, which sank 7%, after the two miners abandoned

merger talks

for the third time.

Shell fell 3.4% after the oil major's fourth-quarter net profit of $3.3 billion missed expectations, dropping 11% from a year earlier amid lower crude prices.

Political uncertainty also weighed, with concerns mounting over whether Prime Minister Keir Starmer could survive the fallout from his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as U.S. ambassador despite knowing about ?his ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

On the flip side, technology stocks rebounded from a global rout seen earlier in the week. Analytics firm Relx (RELX) was up 2.9%, while London Stock Exchange Group (LDNXF) rose ?5.8%. (Reporting by Tharuniyaa Lakshmi in Bengaluru; editing by Sahal Muhammed, Shailesh Kuber and Mark Heinrich)