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Sterling shuffles higher as BoE holds rates in tight call

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Wall Street stock indexes lower

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US dollar falls against major currencies

(Updates to late afternoon)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Major stock indexes fell

sharply on Thursday, with technology and consumer discretionary

shares leading losses in the S&P 500, while the British pound

firmed after the Bank of England opted against an interest rate

cut.

Shares of U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm ( QCOM ) dropped after warning

that its chips might not be as dominant as before in future

Samsung gadgets.

Shares of

Legrand plunged after the French data-center

equipment firm reported sales growth of 11.9% in the first nine

months of the year, slightly below expectations, hit by U.S.

tariffs.

Sterling strengthened 0.64% to $1.3132. Ahead of

likely tax hikes in UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves' budget later

this month, the BoE Monetary Policy Committee voted 5-4 to keep

the central bank's benchmark bank rate at 4.0%. The close vote

kept expectations of a cut before year-end intact.

On Wall Street, investors remain focused on stretched

valuations, the U.S. government shutdown, trade tariff legal

rulings and the ongoing slew of corporate earnings.

"This earnings season is not defined in the rearview mirror.

The market wants guidance and right now, with tariffs, the

shutdown and possibly peak AI, the future could be bleak," said

Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer of Longbow Asset

Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Earlier this week, some U.S. bank chief executives warned about

a likely market pullback.

The S&P 500 technology index was down more than

1%.

Investors digested a report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas

that showed U.S.-based employers cut more than 150,000 jobs in

October, marking the month's biggest reduction in more than 20

years.

Economic data from private sources has drawn increased

investor interest amid the absence of official data during the

U.S. government's longest-ever shutdown.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 231.32 points, or

0.49%, to 47,080.37, the S&P 500 fell 45.36 points, or

0.67%, to 6,750.93 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 311.21

points, or 1.32%, to 23,189.74.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe fell

2.62 points, or 0.26%, to 995.27.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.7%.

Overnight, Japan's Nikkei rebounded 1.4% after

sliding 2.5% on Wednesday. In China, Shanghai's benchmark stock

index reclaimed the psychologically important 4,000 level, as

optimism over tech self-sufficiency boosted its semiconductor

and AI-related shares.

The dollar fell after weak U.S. labor data increased market

expectations of another Federal Reserve rate cut this year.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback

against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro,

fell 0.41% to 99.72, with the euro up 0.47% at $1.1544.

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.65% to

153.11.

In bond markets, euro zone benchmark Bund yields dropped

from their four-week high after the BoE decision. Germany's

10-year yields were down 2 basis points at 2.65%

after hitting 2.676% early in the session, the highest level

since October 10.

U.S. Treasury yields fell, with investors concerned about the

labor market and uncertainty from the U.S. government shutdown.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes

dropped 6.6 basis points to 4.091%, from 4.157% late on

Wednesday.

U.S. crude eased 17 cents to settle at $59.43 a

barrel and Brent fell 14 cents to settle at $63.38.

(Additional reporting by Rae Wee in Singapore; Editing by

Philippa Fletcher, Peter Graff, Richard Chang and Mark Porter)