By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks vacillated between small
gains and losses Wednesday, with news of a probe by regulators
putting GlaxoSmithKline PLC shares among the session's
decliners.
The FTSE 100 was up 2 points at 6,846.40, with sector losses led
by miners as prices for gold, platinum and other metals were under
pressure. Anglo-American shares gave up 1.9%, Rio Tinto PLC lost
1.6% and BHP Billiton PLC (BHP) fell 1.4%.
Glaxo shares sat near the bottom of the benchmark, losing 1.4%
as the drug maker said British regulators are looking into its
commercial practices. No details of the action were included in a
Tuesday statement, but Glaxo said it will fully cooperate with the
U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office.
The probe comes as Glaxo tries to clear up allegations from
Chinese officials that executives orchestrated the bribery of
doctors and health-care groups in China to boost drug sales.
But Smith & Nephew PLC shares rose 3%, scaling to the top of
the FTSE, but they came off a stronger spike after medical-device
maker Stryker Corp. (SYK) said it hadn't made a bid for the
London-based artificial joints maker.
London Stock Exchange Group also advanced, rising 2.4% as the
exchange operator was added to Credit Suisse's Europe focus list.
The LSE's rating remained at outperform.
The FTSE 100 on Tuesdaylogged a 0.4% advance that left the index
with its highest close in more than a week.
Outside of daily market moves, Bank of England Gov. Mark Carney
on Tuesday called on bankers to reform behavior that lead to
misdeeds in the financial sector that risk undermining public
support for free markets.
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