Thursday Morning Markets: FTSE 100 Slips as AstraZeneca Tumbles, Computacenter Surges

The FTSE 100 is trading lower on Thursday, down 0.5%, weighed down by a heavyweight pharma setback, while the FTSE 250 edged up 0.4% on strength from AI-linked and gaming names. 

European peers are performing positively, with the DAX up 0.3%, CAC 40 up 0.4% and the Stoxx 50 rising 0.6%, showing London’s underperformance was stock-specific rather than macro-driven.

AstraZeneca has tumbled 9.2% after announcing that Wainua, its Ionis-partnered therapy, failed to meet the primary endpoint in the closely-watched CardioTTransform Phase III trial for a form of heart disease. 

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BAE Systems (-2.4%) and British American Tobacco (-2.2%) are also dragging, extending a mixed week for defensive and defence names.

The bright spot is Computacenter, which is up 11.1% and briefly hit a new high after an upbeat trading statement flagged stronger profit expectations driven by robust AI-related and US demand.

The move is a sharp reversal from its slide earlier in the week. 

Miners also rallied on firmer metals sentiment, with Antofagasta up 4.2%, Glencore up 3.8% and Anglo American up 3.6%.

Capita shares continued their brutal slide, compounding this week’s Civil Service Pension Scheme crisis with fresh disclosure that the failures will cut annual adjusted operating profit by up to £40m (also delaying its free cash flow target to 2027). 

Overnight, fresh US-Iran strikes failed to reignite Wednesday’s oil spike, with Brent crude slipping 0.9% as markets judged the escalation contained; gold is up 0.9%.

In the FTSE 250, Playtech jumped 17.11% after flagging Hard Rock Digital as set to become one of its largest customers in an upbeat H1 trading update. 

Zigup fell 4.73% in an apparent post-results pullback.