FTSE 100 rises as AstraZeneca lifts healthcare sector

By Reuters News

Sept 29 (Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 rose on Tuesday, lifted by pharmaceutical stocks after AstraZeneca agreed to take a $2 billion stake in Summit Therapeutics to advance cancer research.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index .FTSE rose 0.34% to 10,721.48 points by 0925 GMT, while the midcap FTSE 250 .FTMC climbed 0.24%.

  • Pharma sector .FTNMX201030 advanced 1.5%. AstraZeneca AZN.L gained 1.7% to a two-month high after it said it would invest $2 billion in Summit Therapeutics SMMT.O and collaborate on a series of studies testing their cancer treatments together. Peer GSK GSK.L also climbed 1.7%

  • Industrial metals .FTNMX551020 rebounded 1.3% after falling more than 1% on Monday, tracking a recovery in copper prices. Miners Glencore GLEN.L and Anglo American AAL.L added 1.6% and 1.7%, respectively MET/L

  • Oil prices rose, leading traders to sharply reprice interest rate expectations and keeping global bond yields at multi-decade highs O/R

  • Still, the yield on the British benchmark 10-year gilt eased on Tuesday after climbing to its highest level since 2007 in the previous session

  • Among other movers, Vesuvius VSVS.L surged 21.7%, topping the FTSE 250 after Austria-based RHI Magnesita N.V RHIM.VI proposed to buy the metal flow engineering firm in a cash-and-stock bid

  • British American Tobacco BATS.L slipped 1.7% after warning its annual growth is likely to come in at the lower end of its forecast range

  • Close Brothers CBRO.L jumped 11.2% after the lender reported annual adjusted operating profit of £120.3 million ($159.08 million), ahead of a company-compiled consensus of £111 million

  • On the data front, British shop price inflation slowed slightly in September despite cost pressures on retailers from the Iran ‌war, according to a survey from the British Retail Consortium, prompting calls for greater government support

  • Investors are also awaiting second-quarter GDP data due later this week for clues on the health of the UK economy



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