Pharmaceuticals group AstraZeneca has recovered from yesterday's drop ahead of what is expected to be a critical report from the European Commission on Friday.
The catalyst for the 44p rise to £24.13 was news last night that Astra had settled a patent dispute with rival Teva over its asthma drug Pulmicort. Teva will produce a generic version of the drug from December 2009, under licence from Astra. Panmure Gordon said:
"This is good news, and to us it represents another victory by the company on defending its intellectual property. The news allows us to upgrade our 2009 earnings per share forecast to $4.58 and reiterate our buy recommendation and £31 price target."
Elsewhere the market is pausing for breath after its two day rise, with the FTSE 100 off 21.55 points at 4149.79, despite expectations of a €130bn European economic stimulus plan and news of a hefty Chinese interest rate cut.
Rio Tinto has risen 10p to £15.60 after yesterday's plunge in the wake of BHP Billiton withdrawing its offer. Rio said today it was confident it could sell assets to reduce its $39bn debt and dismissed suggestions it would need to raise equity.
Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey, which may have to do a debt for equity swap to help reduce its £1.9bn borrowings, has recovered 1.04p to 5.44p.
Platinum specialist Johnson Matthey has jumped 73.5p after it reported a 20% rise in first half profits, and forecast full year earnings in line with market forecasts.
But United Utilities has slipped 17.5p to 626.5p despite a 6% half year profit rise. In a sell note, analyst Darren Greenfield at Collins Stewart said:
"Similar to Severn Trent yesterday, United Utilities' results for the first half were inline, but we see risks to the outlook. We estimate that the company is now in the tightest financing position in the sector and is most sensitive to increasing bad debts. The growing pension deficit adds to its woes. United is currently trading on a 6% premium to regulatory capital value while the sector is trading at around a 3% premium and we see further downside in the current environment."
Pubs group Mitchells & Butlers is down 2p to 136.5p as it scraps its 2009 dividend to concentrate on reducing its debt. Profits fell 13.5% to £179m, although this was at the top end of forecasts.
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