London close: Gains pared but markets buoyed by pharma, beverage stocks

UK stocks were off their highest levels of the day by the close on Thursday as mining shares erased earlier gains, though strong performances from pharma and beverage groups provided some support, as well as M&A in the banking sector.

The FTSE 100 finished the session up 39.56 points (+0.6%) at 6,761.07, pulling back after hitting a high of 6,799.84 earlier, with concerns about Greece weighing on sentiment in afternoon trade.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has reportedly raised its emergency liquidity assistance cap for Greek banks by €600m.

Separately, ECB policymaker Jens Weidmann said that Greece has lost a lot of trust and Eurozone governments must figure out whether it is worth the risk of exposure to the country. He added that euro-area’s central banks should make sure Greece's banks are careful not to worsen their liquidity position by buying the nation’s government debt.

Earlier, Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis told Mega TV that the ECB is “asphyxiating” the government by its refusal to give Athens any leeway to issue short-term debt to meet its funding needs.

In economic data on Thursday, new renminbi loans rose by 1.02bn yuan in February, less than the 1.47bn extended in the prior month but well ahead of the 700bn expected by economists.

The UK trade balance registered an unexpectedly large improvement at the start of the year. The deficit on sales of goods overseas shrank to £8.4bn in January from a revised £9.9bn, better than the £9.7bn consensus forecast.

Meanwhile, Eurozone industrial production fell 0.1% in January after a 0.3% rise in December, missing the +0.2% estimate.

Pharma and beverage stocks buoy markets

Shares in Astrazeneca were lifted by comments from UBS which said that upcoming results from the Pegasus study of cardiovascular product Brilinta should drive n "and thus should finally unlock Brilinta's multibillion-dollar potential". The bank said potential upside is "underappreciated" by the market. Sector peer GlaxoSmithKline also rose on plans to sell half of its 12.4% stake in South Africa's largest drug company, Aspen Pharmacare.

SABMiller gained after Exane BNP Paribas analysts said "treatment duratioit's now or never for a bid" for the company from Dutch brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev. Diageo, meanwhile, was rising after Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on the stock with an 'overweight' rating, saying that its valuation was attractive relative to peers.

Shares in recently-floated TSB surged 23% after the company received a £1.7bn bid from Banco Sabadell, helping shares in 50% owner Lloyds higher. A preliminary bid at 340p per share has been tabled, the lender confirmed, 80p higher than its price at flotation last June.

Morrisons finished higher despite reporting a £792m loss before tax for the year ending February 2015 as it wrote down the value of its stores by £1.3bn. Like-for-like sales slumped 5.9% for the whole, but the decline eased to just 2.6% by the fourth quarter.

Mining stocks erased an earlier rise as metal prices slipped, though Glencore, Rio Tinto and Antofagasta still managed to finish higher. Antofagasta outperformed after reaching an agreement with locals to resolve two-week-long protests that have affected production at its flagship Los Pelambres copper project in Chile.

However, BHP Billiton was bucking the trend after going ex-dividend, along with Direct Line, Hargreaves Lansdown, Hammerson, Land Securities, Shire and Standard Chartered.

CRH, which is set to buy €6.5bn of assets from European cement giants Holcim and Lafarge as part of their proposed merger, rose strongly after the companies confirmed tie-up talks were continuing, easing recent concerns that the deal could fall apart.

Soco International plummeted after the oil and gas group said profits sank to just $14m in 2014 from $104.1m the year before on the back of challenging market conditions.

Shares in ASOS soared after the online fashion retailer impressed investors with a strong acceleration in sales growth in the second quarter, helped by a 30% jump in sales in the UK.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,167.08 +0.95%
FTSE 100 6,761.07 +0.59%
FTSE 250 17,061.13 +0.66%

FTSE 100 - Risers
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,479.00p +4.05%
CRH (CRH) 1,807.00p +3.73%
Shire Plc (SHP) 5,455.00p +2.73%
Carnival (CCL) 3,097.00p +2.21%
Schroders (SDR) 3,195.00p +2.14%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,548.50p +1.94%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,141.00p +1.88%
WPP (WPP) 1,548.00p +1.84%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,109.00p +1.84%
Diageo (DGE) 1,882.00p +1.78%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Standard Chartered (STAN) 979.00p -4.44%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 308.20p -3.26%
Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 321.00p -2.73%
Royal Mail (RMG) 425.80p -2.70%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,435.50p -2.48%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 429.80p -1.35%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,198.00p -1.07%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,162.00p -0.94%
Hammerson (HMSO) 649.50p -0.84%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,560.00p -0.76%

FTSE 250 - Risers
TSB Banking Group (TSB) 326.10p +23.48%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 148.60p +5.09%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,355.00p +4.99%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 467.80p +4.40%
Interserve (IRV) 610.00p +4.27%
Entertainment One Limited (ETO) 296.70p +4.00%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 161.20p +4.00%
Supergroup (SGP) 888.50p +3.31%
Hunting (HTG) 481.80p +3.26%
Henderson Group (HGG) 269.30p +3.14%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Soco International (SIA) 158.60p -34.46%
Serco Group (SRP) 183.70p -11.00%
Home Retail Group (HOME) 174.00p -11.00%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 226.70p -2.66%
Zoopla Property Group (WI) (ZPLA) 167.30p -2.45%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 409.20p -2.41%
Ted Baker (TED) 2,489.00p -2.39%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 331.90p -2.07%
Greggs (GRG) 994.00p -1.88%
Pace (PIC) 373.60p -1.84%