FTSE shares drift lower
Shares in London drifted lower today as a disappointing update from WPP and continued pressure on pharmaceuticals weighed on the market.
The FTSE 100 Index pushed through the 6200 mark briefly in early trading but was down 7.1 points to 6177.7 by mid-morning.
However, there was interest in second tier infrastructure firm John Laing after the board backed a fresh takeover bid, sending its shares up more than 10%.
Back in the top flight, investors reacted with disappointment to third quarter figures from media and advertising giant WPP after it admitted markets in the UK and western Europe remained challenging. Shares fell nearly 3% or 17.5p to 671.5p.
Pharmaceuticals remained under pressure following yesterday’s falls as investors continued to digest delays or cancellations to key drug developments. GlaxoSmithKline was down 44p to 1407p and AstraZeneca lost 65p to 3197p.
But miners added some support to the market with Lonmin up 22p to 2890p and Vedanta Resources 11p higher at 1463p, although Antofagasta was down 4.5p to 511.5p.
Financial stocks also made progress with Barclays 4p higher at 713p and Halifax owner HBOS up 6p to 1097p.
And shares in Laing lifted 37p to 392p after its board backed a 385p a share offer from German asset management group Allianz which valued it at £957.5m (€1.4bn).
The offer was 8.5% higher than the 355p a share bid from fund manager Henderson last month and shares in Henderson slipped 4p to 108p today.
Elsewhere, Spanish restaurant group La Tasca was up 3% or 4p to 133.5p after it said it had bounced back from a disappointing summer when sales were hit by the World Cup.
But Honeycombe Leisure was down 11% or 0.75p to 6.25p after the pub owner turned in another year of losses and said it was still on the hunt for a buyer.
