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Lockdown fears temper FTSE gains
StockMarketWire.com
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The FTSE 100 lost some of its earlier gains as optimism over the roll-out of a new vaccine was tempered by fears over new Covid restrictions with Scotland announcing a new national lockdown.
Travel and leisure and retail stocks sold off sharply this afternoon as investors awaited an update from Boris Johnson on measures in England. The index was up 1.7% to 6,571.88 by the close.
In more positive news the first doses of the newly-approved vaccine from AstraZeneca and Oxford University was rolled out across the UK today.
AstraZeneca rose 1.3% to £74.22 a share as the pharma giant also said it had completed the sale of commercial rights to its hypertension medications Atacand and Atacand Plus in over 70 countries to Cheplapharm Arzneimittel GmbH.
Ladbrokes owner Entain surged 28% to £14.52 a share after it confirmed that it had received proposed merger offer of about £13.83 a share from MGM Resorts International.
Entain, however, rejected the offer, saying it undervalued the company.
Ferguson ticked up 1.4p to £88.85 a share after the plumbing company said it had agreed to sell Wolseley UK, its UK-based heating and plumbing distribution business, to Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, a global private investment firm for approximately £308 million. Business parks operator Sirius Real Estate climbed 0.1% to 93.5p after completing the acquisition of three business parks in Germany for a total of €26 million.
Science and engineering group QinetiQ surrendered earlier gains to trade down 0.4% to 318.6p after winning a five-year £127 million contract from the UK Ministry of Defence to provide engineering services for the Typhoon combat aircraft.
IT services provider IDE jumped 238.7% to 2.62p after winning a 'significant' new contract, worth £22.5 million over the three years, with an existing customer within its partnership channel.
Story provided by StockMarketWire.com
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