London equities are expected to open mildly lower, following on from softness in Asia and a mixed turn on Wall St, after Bank of Japan upped ETF purchases but held its interest rates.

Bank of Japan said it would accelerate exchange-traded funds purchases so that their annual amount outstanding rose at a yearly pace of 6tn yen, from 3.3tn yen previously.

The decision to leave interest rates unmoved was despite pressure from the administration of Japan’s PM, Shinzo Abe, for aggressive easing of monetary policy.