NEW YORK: U.K. stocks on Wednesday closed higher for the first time in five sessions, with SABMiller PLC shares rising after the brewer finalized its buyout by rival Anheuser-Busch InBev N.V.
The FTSE 100 UKX, +0.35% advanced 0.4% to end at 6,297.20. The benchmark on Tuesday fell 0.3% for its fourth straight loss.
Among the best performing blue-chip stocks was SABMiller PLC SAB, +1.86% SBMRY, +1.90% Shares climbed 1.9% as the maker of Miller Lite and Peroni said it’s reached an agreement to be acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev N.V. ABI, +2.16% BUD, +2.77% SABMiller shareholders will receive £44 ($66.75) in cash per share.
5 ways the A-B InBev-SABMiller deal will skunk your beer
But J Sainsbury PLC SBRY, -7.08% shares gave up earlier gains and slumped 7.1%. The supermarket chain swung to a pretax profit for the first half of its financial year. The company said full-year cost savings are now expected to be around 225 million pounds ($339.99 million), as it cut its dividend payment.
“Sainsbury’s H1 results support the turnaround strategy put in place by chief executive Mike Coupe but shorter term investors are jumping ship after the dividend cut,” said Jasper Lawler, analyst at CMC Markets, in a note.
Some mining shares closed in the red after the release of downbeat industrial output data from China. Randgold Resources Ltd. RRS, -0.10% fell 0.1% and Fresnillo PLC FRES, -0.43% gave up 0.4%.
BHP Billiton PLC BLT, -2.41% BHP, -3.18% shares fell 2.4%. Public prosecutors in Brazil said negligence likely played a role in a dam failure that killed at least six people. The dam was run under a joint venture between BHP and Brazil’s Vale SA VALE5, -0.24%
Sterling: The pound GBPUSD, +0.0789% fell to an intraday low of $1.5114 as U.K. wage growth was slightly slower than anticipated. The Office for National Statistics said weekly earnings in July through September excluding bonuses rose 2.5%. That compares with a 2.7% rate expected in a FactSet poll of analysts. Earnings including bonuses rose 3%, and analysts had pegged growth at 3.2%.
But the pound eventually recovered ground and was buying $1.5210, compared with $1.5154 just before the jobs data were released. The pound late Tuesday fetched $1.5119.
The ONS said the jobless rate was 5.3% between July and September, compared with 5.6% in the second quarter. The share of the population that is working rose to 73.7%, the highest since records began in 1971.
