FTSE shrugs off sharp M&S slide

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca is leading the gains this morning after it won a patent battle of its schizophrenia treatment Serroquel, up 6.43% to 2267. Rival GlaxoSmithKline is up in sympathy, 2.86% to 1134.50.

Mining and energy shares are also strong in early trading, with Cairn up 3.77% to 3277 and Vedanta 3.02% higher to 2147.

A 5.3% drop in UK like for like sales has smashed Marks & Spencer, currently sitting 18.32% lower to 259.75. Fellow retailer Next is down 6.65% to 849.

Construction supplier Wolseley is also being pounded on the poor news for homebuilders, down 10.13% to 323.75; while ITV is 7.98% lower to 39.20.

In New York, Wall Street rallied late on Tuesday to push into positive territory, boosting some investor confidence smashed in recent sessions. The Dow Jones IA closed 32.25 points (0.28%) higher to 11382.26.

Talk Lehman Brothers could put itself up for a ‘fire sale’ led to gains for financials, with American Express 6.24% ahead to 40.02 and Citigroup 2.21% up to 17.13.

General Motors climbed even though its US sales plunged 18% in June, 2.17% ahead to 11.75.

Aluminium producer Alcoa led the losses on strong global price falls, down 3.31% to 34.44.

Large multi-nationals Microsoft and Coca Cola also dipped, 2.33% lower to 26.87 and 1.89% behind to 51 respectively.

In Tokyo, it was a tenth straight day of declines for the Nikkei 225 on Wednesday, the longest losing streak in 43 years. The index fell 176.83 yen (1.31%) to 13,286.37.

IFAonline

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