Drugs don't work for the FTSE

Shire Pharmaceuticals has lost 15p or 1.2% to 835.5p as Merrill Lynch cut the stock to "neutral" from "buy", while Reed Elsevier has fallen 5p or 0.9% to 542p after it was cut to "underweight" from "in-line" at Goldman Sachs. Meanwhile, GlaxoSmithKline has gained 4p, or 0.3%, to 1,461p following a report the drugmaker hopes to be allowed to sell its Xenical weight-loss drug in the US without prescription. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Stock Average index rose 9.76 or 0.1% to 16,454.95 as optimism over additional capital spending from companies such as Sharp and Matsushita Electric Industri...