UK Commercial Property REIT up on potential buyout deal
Frasers rises after share buyback program
FTSE 100 flat, FTSE 250 adds 0.5

Feb 12 Reuters The UK39;s bluechip FTSE 100 started the week on a muted note as investors braced for a dataheavy week and policymakers39; remarks for cues on the path of interest rates.

The bluechip FTSE 100 held its ground at 7572.97 points by 0918 GMT.

Pharmaceuticals were a drag, falling 1.6, led by a 2.4 drop in AstraZeneca after Barclays cut its price target for the stock to 12,500 pounds from 13,500 pounds.

Market participants will await comments from Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey later in the day, besides domestic and U.S. inflation data later this week, for any clues on when the interest rates might begin easing.

While we think both UK wages and services inflation may surprise marginally on the upside this week, overall these data should on this standard provide continued confidence that secondround effects of higher costs are fading, analysts at Citigroup noted.

Markets are pricing in a roughly 78 chance of at least a 25 basis points bps cut from the Bank of England in August. 0BOEWATCH

Markets took some comfort from the benchmark SP 500 closing above 5,000 for the first time on Friday, boosted by megacap stocks, though the focus remained on the raft of economic data this week, including the U.S. inflation data on Tuesday.

The midcap FTSE 250 added 0.5, with shares in UK Commercial Property REIT jumping 4.4…