Shire gets latest drug approval in Japan, Smiths Group returns to growth

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The FTSE 100 is expected to open 29 points higher on Friday, having closed up 0.49% at 7,367.32 on Thursday.

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Rare disease specialist Shire announced on Friday that the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) in Japan has granted manufacturing and marketing authorisation for the ‘FIRAZYR’ icatibant injection, for the acute treatment of hereditary angioedema (HAE) attacks in adult patients with HAE. The FTSE 100 drugmaker said the use of FIRAZYR in Japanese patients was examined in an open-label, single-arm, Phase 3 study of eight adult patients with a confirmed diagnosis of HAE who experienced angioedema attacks.

Smiths Group returned to growth last year as revenue increased but currency swings and reclassification of costs sent annual profit down 8%. Underlying revenue rose 2% to £3.2bn in the year to the end of July though reported revenue fell 2%. Reported operating profit fell to £544m from £589m.

SIG's profits shrank 22% in the first half of the year as the building products supplier continues its transformation and reported that it was "starting to see evidence of delivery". Underlying profit before tax fell to £26.9m in the six months ended 30 June, from £34.4m a year before, on revenues up 1% to £1.36bn.

Newspaper round-up

Theresa May was left fighting to save her Chequers Brexit plan and with it her authority as prime minister after she was ambushed at the end of the Salzburg summit when EU leaders unexpectedly declared that her proposals would not work. On Thursday night the transport secretary, Chris Grayling, hit back for the government, declaring there were no changes to the Chequers plan on the table and the EU’s demands on Northern Ireland were “impossible” for the UK to accept. - Guardian

Most Conservative voters now back higher taxes to fund the NHS, the British Social Attitudes Survey has found. The polling, carried out by the National Centre for Social Research, found that 53 percent of Conservatives Party supporters think the Government should increase taxes and spending on public services. - Telegraph

Uber is in talks to buy the British food delivery startup Deliveroo for a sum in excess of $2 billion. The owner of the world’s most popular taxi-hailing app is in early stage talks to buy Deliveroo for “several billion dollars”, according to Bloomberg. - The Times

US close

Wall Street trading ended well into the green on Thursday, as investors shrugged off the trade conflict between the US and China and thumbed through a slew of data releases.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the session up 0.95% at 26,656.98, the S&P 500 was ahead 0.78% at 2,930.75, and the Nasdaq 100 leapt 1.05% to 7,569.03.

“Investors are continuing to monitor the main political stories, which have been an important driver of risk appetite for much of the year, but the latest tariffs didn't catch anyone off guard and so the impact has been marginal,” said Oanda analyst Craig Erlam.

On the macroeconomic calendar, US jobless claims moved lower still over the latest week, underlining the ongoing strength of the labour market.

According to the US Department of Labor, initial claims for the week ending on 20 September slipped by 3,000 to 201,000.

The four-week moving average meanwhile, which aims to smooth out the variations from one week to the next, fell by 2,250 to 205,750.