Glaxo slide holds Footsie back
A sharp fall in the shares of drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline today prevented the FTSE 100 Index from closing at a four-year high.
Investors took fright at the proposals from regulators in the United States that tougher restrictions be placed on the Advair asthma treatment of Glaxo.
This sent shares in Glaxo down 4% and meant the FTSE 100 Index finished the day in negative territory – off 1 point at 5497.9.
Glaxo lost 58p to 1439p and was joined on the way down by mobile phone giant Vodafone, which was the most heavily traded stock of the session and fell 2p to 126p.
Oil heavyweights were among those helping to offset the decline, with BP up 9.5p at 653.5p to reach its highest level since the start of last month.
Royal Dutch Shell was also ahead by 23p at 1924p as the cost of a barrel of oil crept back towards 58 US dollars in New York.
And hopes of stronger retail trading conditions following the recent cold snap pushed a clutch of retailers on to the top flight risers board.
The biggest beneficiary was Next, which added 36p to 1392p, while Dixons owner DSG International lifted 2.75p to 150p and Argos owner GUS cheered 14p to 890p.
Elsewhere, shares in online gaming giant PartyGaming emerged unscathed from a war of words with smaller rival Empire Online.
Empire said takeover talks had broken down and added that it was considering legal action over the recent decision to block its players from gambling at the same tables as PartyGaming customers – a move that caused Empire to warn on profits last month.
PartyGaming stood a penny higher at 99p while Empire Online was up more than 8%, ahead 5.5p to 69p.
Business telecoms firm Thus rose 5% – up 1.25p to 15.75p – after it unveiled a sharp reduction in first-half losses and said it was interested in playing a role in the recent consolidation of the telecoms sector.
Glasgow-based Thus, which owns the Demon internet brand, said operating losses on continuing operations came in at £5.8 million, compared with a deficit of £23.3 million last year.
Computacenter also gained 16%, up 34.5p to 249p, after dealers reacted to Friday’s news that the hardware company’s co-founders were considering buying back the firm.
And specialist cake and bread maker Finsbury Food surged 3.5p to 67.5p after bolstering its links with major supermarkets by unveiling three acquisitions worth up to £10 million.
But there was no such joy for educational equipment supplier RM, which weakened 1p to 157p as higher annual profits were overshadowed by downbeat comments on recent IT spending by schools.
The highest Footsie risers today were Next up 36p to 1392p, Johnson Matthey adding 24p to 1269p, DSG International up 2.75p to 150p and Enterprise Inns rising 15p to 864p.
The heaviest fallers were GlaxoSmithKline, off 58p to 1439p, British Land losing 23.5p to 1020.5p, Reed Elsevier off 11p to 513.5p and British Airways losing 5.5p to 307.5p.
