FTSE falters on beer and drugs

The FTSE 100 index was down 26.7 points or 0.5% to 5870 in early trading, prompted by SAB Miller, the world's third-largest beer maker, which fell 2.7% to 997p and Shire which has also fallen 1.7% to 817p. ITV, the commercial broadcaster, has also dropped 0.3% to 98.75p as the FT reported the company's flagship channel ITV1 will have a 20% in advertising revenue in the final quarter of the year. Asian stocks closed the day down generally, led by exporters such as Toyota Motor and Samsung Electronics as US reports suggested growth in the world's largest economy is weakening. Share values...