London blue chips made a bright start to Thursday morning, led by pharma giant GSK on the settlement of most of its Zantac litigation.
GSK jumped more than 6% on the news, helping the Footsie gain 20 points to 8,264.
At a cost of US$2.2 billion, analysts said it was a hefty bill but could have been worse and should help end the uncertainty surrounding the litigation.
Segro was another early gainer as the market seemingly liked that its bid for Tritax Eurobox had been trumped by a £1.1 billion offer from Canary Wharf owner Brookfield.
Builders were on the ropes again over more Budget leaks, this time suggesting the Chancellor is struggling to find the money to fund all of the government’s planned spending programmes. Taylor Wimpey was the top Footsie faller.
Finally, tech fever is back and raging. Nvidia Corp closed at a new all-time high of $132.65 per share on Wednesday in the US overnight, bringing its market capitalisation to a tidy $3.25 trillion. Only Apple is worth more.