LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Edges Up; Glaxo Pulls Back On Probe News

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch)--The U.K.'s FTSE 100 eked out a small gain Wednesday following a choppy session that saw GlaxoSmithKline PLC among the session's decliners on concerns about a regulatory probe of the drug maker.

The FTSE 100 edged up 0.1% to 6,851.22. The modest move was aided in part by a 4.3% rise in shares of Smith & Nephew PLC that topped the index's advancers. The shares came off a brief spike of 18% 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 2.6% as the exchange operator was added to Credit Suisse's Europe focus list. The LSE's rating remained at outperform.

But sector losses were led by miners as prices for gold, platinum and other metals were under pressure. Anglo-American shares gave up 1.9%, Rio Tinto PLC pulled back 1.8% and BHP Billiton PLC (BHP) fell 1.3%.

Glaxo shares sat near the bottom of the benchmark, losing 1.6% 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 would 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.

The FTSE 100 on Tuesday logged 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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