LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Yanked Lower By AstraZeneca, Miners

By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- AstraZeneca PLC shares tumbled in London on Monday after the pharmaceutical maker rejected Pfizer Inc.'s increased takeover offer, while some mining firms declined on further signs of a slowdown in the Chinese housing market.

The losses hit the FTSE 100 index , which shed 0.2% to close at 6,844.55.

AstraZeneca (AZN) led the list of losers, sliding 11% after turning down a "final" offer from Pfizer Inc. (PFE) at 55 pounds a share ($92.48). Leif Johansson, chairman of AstraZeneca, said the offer is only a minor improvement over the previous bids and continued "to fall short."

Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade, said in a note that AstraZeneca made the right decision in rejecting the offer, as "Pfizer is certainly undervaluing the firm and we do not think they are offering what the company is really worth."

Some mining firms were further adding pressure in London, falling on signs that the Chinese real-estate market continues to cool. Beijing's prices for second-home purchases fell in April by the most in two years, while newly built residential-housing price gains eased for the sixth straight month, according to data from China's National Bureau of Statistics.

 
   Shares of Rio Tinto PLC   (RIO) dropped 1.9% and BHP Billiton PLC  (BHP)  gave up 0.6%. 
 

Housing shares were also in for a weak session after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney on Sunday said the U.K.'s elevated housing prices pose a big risk to the economy.

"When we look at domestic risk, the biggest risk to financial stability, and therefore to the durability of the expansion, those risks center in the housing market and that's why we are focused on that," he said in an interview with Sky News.

Shares of Barratt Developments PLC and Persimmon PLC each slipped 0.4% and Berkeley Group Holdings PLC lost 0.8%.

Extending gains, shares of Shire PLC popped up 2.7% after the drug maker said it plans to submit a new application to the U.S. Food and Drug administration for lifitegrast as a treatment for dry-eye disease.

And in Ireland, shares of Ryanair Holdings PLC rallied 11% after the budget airliner said profit should grow this fiscal year, after reporting a drop in full-year profit for the year ending March 31. The jump in Ryanair shares helped push Ireland's ISEQ Overall Index up 2.6% to 4,776.61.

More must-reads from MarketWatch:

AT&T strikes deal for DirecTV worth $67.1 billion

Only a 'black swan' will bring back stock volatility

Richest Brits just got a lot richer

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires