Market report: Wednesday close

By MICKEY CLARK FOR MAILONLINE
Updated:

 

SHARES in AstraZeneca bounced off the bottom as the pharmaceuticals giant celebrated good news from across the Atlantic. The Anglo-Swedish group jumped 95p to 1894p on news that it may be able to market its lung cancer treatment Iressa in the US after all.

A drugs advisory panel has recommended Iressa be given full approval by the Food and Drug Administration. The drug, which will be targeted at cancer sufferers who have exhausted other therapies, has been given the thumbs-up by the FDA despite some unease among officials about its clinical trials.

Brokers say Iressa is almost certain to be a winner for AstraZeneca and is soon likely to generate sales of almost £700m a year. Morgan Stanley has raised its recommendation on the company from 'equal weight' to 'overweight'. It has also slightly raised its earnings forecast from 2003 onwards.

The rest of the market staged a turnaround as traders pinned their hopes on an opening rally for the Dow this afternoon. They were not disappointed. Prices in New York opened sharply higher as the bears closed their positions following the sharp falls of the past few days. As a result, the FTSE 100 index rallied but ended off its highs, ahead 25.1 points to 3696.2.

Cable & Wireless hit new lows with a fall of 1 1/2p to 114 1/2p after broker Credit Suisse First Boston slashed its target price from 170p to 95p. It says it is now entirely discounting the group's £2bn cash pile. Bookie Financial Spreads has opened bets on when the shares are likely to drop below 100p and is quoting a price of 34-38 days. The telco's spending rate is worrying investors, and the City has lost confidence in the management following four profit warnings.

Sir Clive Thompson's Rentokil Initial jumped 19 3/4p to 212p as the royal ratcatcher resumed its share buybacks. The company has bought 2.5m shares at 199.9p.

British Airways, which has dropped below 100p this week following demotion to the FTSE 250 index, was 3 3/4p firmer at 99 1/2p. Ryanair slipped 2p to 341 1/2p, surrendering the gains that greeted its boast that the firm now has a bigger market value than Germany's Lufthansa.

Independent television broadcaster Carlton Communications retreated 3/4p to a new low of 106p amid whispers that it may be contemplating a rights issue. But with the shares so weak, it may be having second thoughts. Satellite broadcaster BSkyB rose 15p to 503p after securing the television rights to the UEFA Champions League.

Glassmaker Pilkington rallied 4 3/4p to 60 3/4p despite a bearish trading update. Chief executive Stuart Chambers warned that trading conditions remain tough. The outlook for the current year was described as challenging.

• Prices and indices in this section are supplied from various sources and calculated at different times and may not always match those listed on the site.

World markets, updated every 2 minutes
Every share, updated every 2 minutes
AIM, updated every 2 minutes
techMARK, updated every 2 minutes
Today's gainers and fallers

Most watched Money videos