London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.1% at 7,526.03 in afternoon trade on Wednesday.
GSK surged to the top of the index after a US court ruled in the pharmaceutical company’s favour in a case claiming that its former Zantac heartburn drug caused cancer. Haleon, which was recently spun off from GSK, also jumped.
Barclays upgraded Haleon to ‘overweight’ from ‘equalweight’ after the court ruling.
“Zantac related MDL litigation in the US was summarily dismissed last night, meaning it will not proceed to trial (unless successfully appealed),” the bank said. “As such we regard Zantac as substantially derisked, leaving Haleon investible again for those without the appetite for pharma litigation risk.”
Smurfit Kappa was also in the black as it announced the buyback of up to 1.2m shares.
Equipment rental firm Ashtead was the worst performer on the index, having gained on Tuesday after results.
FTSE 100 – Risers
GSK (GSK) 1,505.40p 8.47%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 688.60p 3.99%
Haleon (HLN) 305.00p 3.32%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 317.50p 2.78%
Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 3,048.00p 2.28%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,092.50p 1.91%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,489.50p 1.46%
Frasers Group (FRAS) 897.00p 1.41%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 11,296.00p 1.31%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 2,714.00p 1.27%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Ashtead Group (AHT) 4,913.00p -3.06%
BT Group (BT.A) 117.65p -2.20%
RS Group (RS1) 918.50p -2.18%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 91.66p -1.96%
Glencore (GLEN) 545.70p -1.87%
Centrica (CNA) 92.96p -1.86%
Halma (HLMA) 2,123.00p -1.71%
Harbour Energy (HBR) 304.10p -1.68%
Prudential (PRU) 1,058.50p -1.67%
WPP (WPP) 845.20p -1.42%
