By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks fell Wednesday, with shares
of Shire PLC plunging after U.S. drug maker AbbVie Inc. indicated
it's reconsidering a plan to acquire the biopharmaceutical
firm.
Investors also assessed U.K. labor-market data released
Wednesday, which showed unemployment falling to its lowest level
since 2008.
The Office for National Statistics said the unemployment rate
between June to August fell to 6%, compared with the 6.1% reading
anticipated by economists. Average weekly earnings including
bonuses rose 0.7% annually, and increased by 0.9% excluding
bonuses. But the growth lags inflation, which stood at 1.2% in
September, so real wages are still declining.
Markets: As the Bank of England wants to see wage growth
trending higher before it begins to raise interest rates, the pound
(GBPUSD) briefly rose, then turned lower against the U.S. dollar
after the jobs data. Sterling bought $1.5919 compared with $1.5924
ahead of the report. The pound late Tuesday traded around
$1.5905.
The FTSE 100 fell 1% to 6,327.12, led by a 25% slide in Shire
shares . The shares were hit after AbbVie Inc. (ABBV) signaled late
Tuesday it may be rethinking its $54 billion planned purchase of
Shire because new tax rules from the U.S. Treasury Department make
the deal less attractive. AbbVie's board will meet next week to
discuss their recommendation to buy Shire.
Shares of British drug maker AstraZeneca PLC fell 3.4%. The
company earlier this year fought off a $120 billion takeover
approach from U.K. drug giant Pfizer Inc. (PFE).
In other action, shares of Balfour Beatty PLC climbed 8.4% after
the construction services company named Leo Quinn as its chief
executive. He previously served for five years as CEO at defense
technology maker QinetiQ Group PLC . Shares of QinetiQ fell
8.3%.
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires