Drug and software firms put FTSE on a downer

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The FTSE 100 Index closed down 12.3 points today at 4,358.40 after UK stocks fell, paced by AstraZeneca and Sage.

AstraZeneca lost 45p to 2,389p after analysts at ABN Amro NV downgraded the company’s stock to “reduce” from “buy” so its rival GlaxoSmithKline suffered similar losses and shed 14p to 1,081p. Sage, one of the Britain’s largest developer of accounting software, fell 3.75p to 174p. Marks & Spencer, on the other hand, rose 10.5p to 370.5p. Vodafone added 1.75p to 119.5p after its Japanese unit, Vodafone K.K., gained another 64,100 customers in June. EasyJet climbed 1.25p to 151.25p after the airline said 2.24m people travelled on its planes last month compared with 1.75m in June la...

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