Sector movers: AstraZeneca, Shire lift pharma stocks on upbeat guidance

Decent gains from AstraZeneca and Shire gave the pharmaceuticals sector a boost on Tuesday as both firms gave confident outlooks.At the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, AstraZeneca Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said he expects the company to return to growth sooner than analysts currently predict. He said that new incoming drugs from the company's portfolio as well as the buy-out of Bristol-Myers Squibb from their diabetes alliance should help halt a decline in sales. Sales have been under pressure over the last year due to a number of patent expiries and competition from generic versions of its drugs."AstraZeneca now expects 2017 revenues to be broadly in line with 2013 revenues," he said.The share price was 2.5% higher at around 3,755p by 15:50 on Tuesday.Toby Morris, Senior Sales Trader at CMC Markets, said: "The update comes ahead of a 2013 number release on Feb 6th, with a strong pipeline versus 12 months ago providing a boost in optimism and sending the stock higher."Shire, meanwhile, raised its earnings guidance for 2013 to the upper end of previous expectations, pushing the stock up 2.4% to 2,981p.Shire shares spiked immediately higher this afternoon as the Dublin-headquartered company put out a short statement from Chief Executive Flemming Ornskov that confirmed a strong finish to the year.Ornskov, who had been addressing investors at the same conference in San Francisco as AstraZeneca's Soriot, also added that he remained confident the company would deliver earnings for 2014 in line with the November 2013 consensus forecast (excluding ViroPharma).Others in the sector including Summit Corporation, Futura Medical and Skyepharma were making decent gains today.Vectura was also higher after the respiratory development company confirmed that its partner Sandoz has received Swedish marketing approval for their inhaler product AirFluSal Forspiro. Top performing sectors so far todayTechnology Hardware & Equipment 1,176.48 +1.16%Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 11,859.30 +0.85%Industrial Transportation 3,342.59 +0.78%Media 6,494.69 +0.73%Household Goods & Home Construction 11,269.09 +0.71%Bottom performing sectors so far todayElectronic & Electrical Equipment 4,505.01 -1.25%Industrial Metals & Mining 1,291.41 -1.24%Financial Services 7,863.20 -1.08%Oil & Gas Producers 8,257.45 -1.01%Forestry & Paper 10,922.16 -0.98%BC