UK shares were muted in early trade on Friday and set for a second straight weekly decline, as a recovery in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology stocks was offset by the losses in insurer Legal & General and specialty chemicals maker Victrex.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 climbed 0.1% by 08:24 GMT, while the midcap FTSE 250 was flat.
Pharma and biotech shares led the gains among sectors, rising 1.1%, after dropping more than 4.4% on Thursday, dragged down by weak results from drugmaker AstraZeneca.
Legal & General dropped 2.7% to the bottom of the FTSE 100 index, after Citigroup cut its price target on the insurer’s stock. The broader life insurance index shed 1.2%.
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The chemicals index lost 1.4% after Victrex tumbled 5.1% to the bottom of FTSE 250 on reporting lower first-quarter revenue.
Tesco said it would sell most of its banking operations to lender Barclays for up to 700 million pounds ($883 million). Shares in Britain’s biggest retailer advanced 1.2% to the top of FTSE 100, while Barclays slipped 0.3%.
