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* British shops and pub gardens reopen as lockdown eases
* C4X Discovery ends at 18-month high on deal with Sanofi
* AstraZeneca falls after diabetes drug fails to meet main
goal
* FTSE 100, FTSE 250 drop 0.4%
(Updates to close)
By Devik Jain and Shashank Nayar
April 12 (Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 ended lower on
Monday, as heavyweight mining stocks slipped amid a drop in
metal prices and a stronger pound weighed on the export-heavy
index, while shares of drug developer C4X Discovery surged after
a licensing deal with Sanofi.
The blue-chip index ended 0.4% lower after recording
its best weekly performance since early January on Friday.
Miners Glencore, BHP Group and Anglo
American fell between 0.9% and 1.8% and were the top
drags on the index, tracking lower metal prices.
The domestically focussed mid-cap FTSE 250 index
dropped 0.4% even as England's shops, pubs, gyms and
hairdressers reopened after three months of strict winter
lockdown.
“There is not much cheer on the reopening as it seems to be
already factored in and neither are concerns of cases increasing
as shops reopen," said Keith Temperton, equity sales trader at
Forte Securities.
"Investors seems to be holding back as markets have rallied
in a short time, and would wait until the earnings season kicks
in.”
The FTSE 100 has risen 6.6% since the beginning of the year
as huge vaccine rollouts coupled with added government stimulus
helped boost investor optimism about a faster economic rebound.
But a recent drop in metal prices and elevated yield levels have
kept gains limited.
C4X Discovery jumped nearly 8% after the drug
developer signed an exclusive licensing deal worth up to $492.12
million with French drugmaker Sanofi to develop an
oral therapy for treatment of inflammatory diseases.
Hammerson dropped 2.9% after it confirmed that it
was in talks for a possible sale of its retail parks portfolio
to Canadian private equity player Brookfield Asset Management
.
AstraZeneca fell 0.9% and was the third biggest drag
on the FTSE 100 as data from a late-stage study to test whether
its diabetes drug Farxiga could treat patients hospitalised with
COVID-19 and at risk of developing serious complications fell
short of its main goals.
(Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V
and Jonathan Oatis)
