FTSE in positive territory

Pharmaceuticals firm Shire injected enthusiasm into London shares today as investors welcomed news it had settled a patent dispute.

Shire’s market value lifted 7% after it revealed US group Impax would be allowed to make generic versions of Adderall XR by 2010 and would pay Shire a royalty from the sales.

This made Shire the highest blue-chip riser on a day when the FTSE 100 Index stood 31.3 points higher at 5724.5 by mid-morning.

This helped the Footsie continue its recovery from a mini-slump earlier in the week, helped by a solid session in Tokyo as Japanese investors looked to draw a line under a volatile week.

In London, Shire cheered 63.5p to 898.5p as analysts said the agreement over Adderall should give the group sufficient time to move patients on to its next generation treatment.

It was followed by GUS, which gained 33.5p to 1008p after broker UBS lifted its profits forecast to reflect a better performance at its Argos chain. Primark owner AB Foods also benefited from a UBS upgrade, improving 24p to 826.5p.

Elsewhere in the retail sector, Dixons group DSG International lifted 2.75p to 177p as official data showed electrical goods and furniture stores led the winners on the high street in December.

But utility companies were among the worst performing stocks of the session as investors took profits after a recent strong run for the sector.

International Power was the heaviest faller, down 6p to 270p, while Scottish & Southern Energy dipped 9.5p to 1063p and Scottish Power fell 2.5p to 572.5p.

Elsewhere in the top flight, mobile phone group Vodafone continued to struggle with a fresh decline of 1.25p to 120p.

Among smaller firms, ringtones specialist MonsterMob was in the black after announcing the takeover of a leading Chinese mobile games developer for up to 35 million US dollars (£19.9m). MonsterMob shares cheered 6p to 387p.