May 7 (Reuters) – British stocks closed lower on Wednesday as losses in healthcare and real estate shares offset positive trade talk developments, while investors awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision due later in the day.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 (.FTSE), fell 0.4%.
The domestically focused FTSE 250 (.FTMC), slipped 0.1%.
However, brokerage Barclays upgraded the FTSE 250 to ‘overweight’ from ‘market weight’, expecting stocks to benefit from the Bank of England’s interest rate cuts, with one expected on Thursday.
Healthcare (.FTNMX201030), stocks led the decline among sectors, down 2.2%, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration named Vinay Prasad, an oncologist who has previously criticized FDA leadership and COVID-19 mandates, as the director of its Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.
Shares of AstraZeneca (AZN.L), and GSK (GSK.L), fell 1.8% and 4.9%, respectively.
Rentokil Initial (RTO.L), fell 3.3%, among…
