By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks seesawed Thursday, with banking and oil shares posting gains while miners were pulled lower.

The FTSE 100 was up less than 3 points at 6,659.73. The benchmark on Wednesday finished 0.4% higher on fading prospects of an early interest-rate increase by the Bank of England.

Shares in Carillion PLC gained 2.8% after the construction and support services firm laid out its business plan for a merger with Balfour Beatty , signaling it is still pursuing the deal. Off the benchmark, shares in Balfour Beatty rose 1.9%.

Banking stocks on Thursday rose, adding to gains in the previous session for the interest-rate sensitive sector. Royal Bank of Scotland picked up 0.8%, Barclays PLC up 0.5% and HSBC higher by 0.7%.

But miners struggled, with Rio Tinto down 1.8%, Glencore PLC fell 1.5% and BHP Billiton lost 1%.

The pound (GBPUSD) bought $1.6672, down from $1.6695 late Wednesday. The pound was shoved lower Wednesday after the Bank of England cut its annual wage-growth view, which the market saw as lessening the odds that the central bank will hike its benchmark rate this year from its current record low 0.5%.

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires