Food and drugs firms bring the FTSE down

Boots lost 55.5p to 659p after the pharmacy chain reported that price reductions and store-refurbishment will cut profit by about £140m in the next fiscal year. Sainsbury, one of UK's biggest supermarket chains, dropped 14.25p to 267.5p. Tesco also shed 4.75p to 248.75p, leaving the FTSE 350 Food & Drug Index the worst performer on the FTSE 350 Index. Meanwhile, British Airways rose 9.5p to 280p. In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index gained 239.74 points to 11,770.65 earlier today, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 36.97 points to 12,483.24. In the US, the Dow Jones Ind...