Stock Commentary - Europe - week to Oct 23, 2006

EUROPEAN: bourses had a volatile reporting week to October 23, starting with profit-taking on October 17 after a nine-session run-up. However, most ended higher to some extent, with the FTSE Eurofirst at another five-year high. In the drug sector, Akzo Nobel slumped 8.9% on the AMSTERDAM exchange, after the firm revealed - along with third-quarter results - that it may delay the filing of its potential blockbuster psycopharmacological agent asenapine (under development with US drug giant Pfizer) because of mixed Phase III schizophrenia trial results (Marketletter October 23). In ZURICH, there was an 11.4% jump for Actelion, after the firm posted better-than-expected results and raised its full-year guidance Also putting in a good performance was Novartis, which gained 5.0% following its first three quarters of 2006 results, which beat analysts' expectations (see page 5). However, Roche, which had gained in the previous week on its results, saw a 0.7% dip in its share price. Sanofi-Aventis dipped 1.4% in PARIS, after the firm's obesity agent Acomplia (rimonabant) was classified a lifestyle drug, so non-reimbursable.

LONDON: share prices, unlike most of continental Europe, ended marginally lower, impacted particularly by a more than 1% fall in the Dow Jones on October 17. Drug majors AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline rose 3.9% and 2.0%, respectively, with traders building positions in the former ahead of the third-quarter results and the latter of vague rumors that it plans to sell its consumer health care business, reported the Financial Times. Antisoma increased 6.9%, fuelled by strong Phase II data on its lung cancer drug candidate AS1404 (Marketletter October 23).