AstraZeneca leads flat FTSE after US patent win as BP rises on takeover talk
BRITAIN’S leading share index was flat yesterday after a choppy session on the last day of the second quarter, with gains by AstraZeneca after a key US patent was upheld just countering weakness in miners.
At the close, the FTSE 100 was up 2.65 points, or 0.1 per cent at 4,916.87, notching up a 13.4 per cent decline for the second-quarter, the worst performance since the third quarter of 2002 when the dot.com boom collapsed.
“It’s been a very tough quarter, with the European debt crisis and BP’s environmental disaster weighing heavily,” said Mic Mills, head of electronic trading at ETX Capital.
“Given yesterday’s plunge there was rather likely to be a little bounce today, but with the non-farm payrolls on Friday investors remain very cautious.”
AstraZeneca was the biggest blue chip gainer, up 7.5 per cent after the drugmaker won a patent trial in the United States involving its blockbuster statin drug Crestor, leading several brokers to upgrade ratings and targets for the stock.
The news lifted sentiment in the heavyweight sector, helping GlaxoSmithKline gain 1.8 per cent.
Integrated oils were also higher as a sector thanks to a bounce back by BP, 5.3 per cent higher as investors picked up shares cheaply, and with traders citing speculation of a possible takeover of the company resurfacing following broker comment.
BP has still lost 52 per cent since its oil spill, the worst ever US environmental accident, began in the Gulf of Mexico in mid-April. The season’s first Atlantic hurricane is disrupting the clean up of the massive oil spill.