Last checked at 
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened higher on Tuesday tracking global peers, while NatWest was lower after the City watchdog launched criminal proceedings against the state-backed lender.
The FTSE 100 index was up 40.41 points, or 0.6%, at 6,790.11. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 123.33 points, or 0.5%, at 21,645.68. The AIM All-Share index was 0.3% higher at 1,202.98.
The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.4% at 674.32. The Cboe 250 was up 0.4% at 19,243.66, and the Cboe Small Companies up 0.1% at 13,953.44.
In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.2%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was 0.5% higher.
In the FTSE 100, Barclays was the best performer, up 2.9%, after Credit Suisse raised the UK lender to Outperform from Neutral.
AstraZeneca was up 1.9% after the drugmaker said it has modified an existing agreement with the US government to supply up to 500,000 additional doses of AZD7442, a long-acting antibody combination which is in late-stage development for the prevention and treatment of Covid-19.
In addition, Jefferies raised AstraZeneca to Buy from Hold.
The Anglo-Swedish firm said the new US government deal builds on earlier deals for a total of 200,000 doses with the US Department of Health & Human Service and Department of Defense.
The value of the extended agreement is USD205 million and is contingent on AZD7442 receiving an Emergency Use Authorisation from the US Food & Drug Administration. AstraZeneca said the total value of current agreements with the US government for the development and supply of AZD7442 in 2021 is about USD726 million.
The extended agreement is not anticipated to affect the company's financial guidance for 2021.
AstraZeneca also said it has completed the sale of its 27% stake in Viela Bio Inc to Horizon Therapeutics. It will receive USD775 million in cash proceeds and profit from the Viela stake sale, but this also isn't expected to affect its guidance for 2021.
At the other end of the large-caps, NatWest Group was the worst performer, 1.1% lower after the bank said the UK financial regulator has opened criminal proceedings over the bank's alleged failure to comply with money laundering regulations.
The UK Financial Conduct Authority started the investigation in July 2017 - covering the period from November 2011 to October 2016 - but has now decided to begin criminal proceedings against National Westminster Bank.
NatWest stressed it has been cooperating with the FCA's investigation.
Standard Chartered was down 0.9%, after Credit Suisse downgraded the Asia-focused bank to Underperform from Neutral.
Antofagasta was 0.3% lower despite the Chilean copper miner reporting positive annual results.
For 2020, revenue was up 3.3% to USD5.13 billion from USD4.94 billion in 2019. Pretax profit was USD1.41 billion, up 4.4% from USD1.35 billion.
The company's preferred metric - earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation - rose 12% to USD2.74 billion in 2020 from USD2.44 billion the year prior.
The miner declared a final dividend of 48.5 cents per share, bringing the total dividend for the year to 54.7 cents per share, up from 17.8 cents in 2019.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended up 0.5% on Tuesday. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.8%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong closed up 0.6%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney finished 0.8% higher.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3838 early Tuesday, down from USD1.3885 at the London equities close Monday.
The euro was priced at USD1.1925, lower from USD1.1931. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar was trading at JPY109.15, up from JPY10.08.
Brent oil was priced at USD68.32 a barrel Tuesday morning, lower from USD68.70 late Monday. Gold was trading at USD1,731.45 an ounce, up from USD1,730.28.
The economic events calendar on Tuesday has the ZEW economic sentiment survey for both the eurozone and Germany at 1000 GMT and US retail sales at 1230 GMT.
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
