UK stocks lower as oil majors slide; AstraZeneca disappoints

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UK stocks opened higher Friday slipped into the red after opening higher Friday, weighed down by slide oil majors and AstraZeneca following disappointing results.

At 09:34:, the benchmark FTSE 100 index was down 29 points, or 0.40% to 7.354.93 after opening at 7.384.18.

Oil majors including BP and Shell were down more than 1% as oil prices fell amid pressure from a rise in the dollar.

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca fell 3.9% to £90.73 after swinging to a third-quarter loss as higher costs dented margins and offset a surge in revenue.

For the third quarter, pre-tax losses were £2.0 billion from a profit of £853 million a year earlier, while revenue jumped 50% to $9.87 billion.

Homebuilder Redrow rose 3.4% to 641.80 pence after upgrading its forecast on revenue, forecasting that results for fiscal 2022 would approach those achieved in 2019 amid rising house prices and an increase in its order book. ​

Engineering group John Wood fell 7.6% to 186.15 pence after initiating a strategic review of the part of its consulting business facing the built environment end market.

The company also said that the rate of recovery in its projects business had been slower than anticipated largely due to the deferral of activity and awards into 2022.

Engineering group Pressure Technologies fell 1.9% to 77 pence as its chairman Sir Roy Gardner is set to step down from his role in March 2022.

The company also also reported narrower adjusted losses even as revenue slipped amid 'difficult trading conditions.'