Market report: Wednesday close

CHAMPAGNE corks must have been popping round the boardroom table at

The approval had been a long time coming. Worries about possible side-effects such as kidney damage had prompted the FDA to demand more information on the drug and on recommended doses.

The regulator has approved dosage levels of up to 40 milligrams and paved the way for AZ to grab a large slice of a $20bn (£12.5bn) market for lowering cholesterol levels in the bloodstream.

Crestor is regarded by brokers as a major rival to Pfizer's Lipitor, the biggest-selling prescription drug with annual sales of some $8bn. AZ climbed 47p to 2536p.

The FTSE 100 peeped back above 4200 for the first time since June but was pegged back after New York failed to hold slim early gains. The Footsie fell 4.9 points to 4180.7.

Several blue-chips went ex-dividend. One of those was BP, 4 3/4p lower at 434p after stripping out the payment of 4.09p. Broker CSFB says to reduce Shell, down 9 1/4p at 400 1/4p, in favour of BP.

Diageo fell 3p to 657p after three lines totalling 90m shares went through. Two were traded at 660 1/4p and the third at $9.38 as part of a dollar/American depositary receipts conversion.

BSkyB slipped 5p to 704p, despite broker upgrades following its return to the black with a rise of 3p to 712p. Broker UBS Warburg has repeated its buy recommendation and raised its 12-month target price from 880p to 950p. US securities house Lehman Brothers has an overweight rating and has lifted its target from 830p to 870p while rival Goldman Sachs rates the satellite broadcaster outperform.

Keep an eye on shares of AIM-listed Ffast-Fill, up 1/2p at 10p, which develops software products for use in global equities, futures and derivatives trading. Monaco-based former stockbroker David Newton last week bought 7.8m shares, or 10.49%, of the company, which formed an issue of 15m shares to raise £750,000.

Newton made a lot of money investing in high-flyer Gresham Computers, up 7p at 348 1/2p. He draws favourable comparisons between Gresham and loss-making FfastFill, which collapsed from a peak of 100p after the tech bubble burst. It has trebled in value since the start of the year.

De La Rue fell 4 1/2p to 254 1/2p. Broker Merrill Lynch has raised its earnings forecasts after the company won a contract to print Iraqi banknotes. Fashion retailer French Connection jumped 72 1/2p to 1605p on bullish comments by Deutsche bank. Chairman and founder Stephen Marks is said to have decided against finding a buyer for his 52% stake.

ITIS jumped 7 3/4p to 27 1/2p after signing a three-year contract with Ford to supply its traffic message service for the new Mondeo. Signs of revival in the IT industry are expected to be good news for staffing companies such as Harvey Nash, ahead 7p at 50 1/2p, and Spring Group, 5p better at 88 1/2p.

Prices and indices in this section are supplied from various sources and calculated at different times and may not always match those listed on the site.