LONDON: The FTSE 100 closed lower in quiet trading on Wednesday, as investors wound down some positions in pharma heavyweights AstraZeneca and GSK in a truncated Christmas Eve session.
The UK’s blue-chip FTSE 100 closed down 0.2 percent, moving sideways since hitting a five-week high last week following the Bank of England’s 25-basis-point rate cut.
AstraZeneca and GSK dropped about 0.5 percent each.
The domestically focussed midcap FTSE 250 index was down 0.07 percent, but still managed to notch its second straight weekly gain.
Trading volumes remained thin heading into the holidays, as many markets are either shut or operating on reduced hours on Christmas Eve.
London’s stock market will remain closed on Thursday and Friday for Christmas and Boxing Day holidays.
Oil major BP agreed to sell a 65 percent stake in its Castrol lubricants business to US investment firm Stonepeak for about USD6 billion, a significant step in the oil major’s USD20 billion divestment plan aimed at cutting debt and boosting returns. Its shares were down 0.4 percent.
The FTSE 100 index is set to close out a fifth straight year of gains, with a 20.7 percent advance that has outperformed European and US benchmarks, fuelled by miners, financials and defence shares.
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