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UK stocks made solid gains at the open on Wednesday as concerns about the rapid spread of the Omicron variant were tempered by early research showing it may not be as virulent.
At 0831, the benchmark FTSE 100 index was up 60.36 points, or 0.8%, at 7,432.46, as trading resumed following the Christmas break.
Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca gained 0.8% to £86.79 following news that it had signed a global development agreement with Ionis Pharmaceuticals for a treatment for the disease TTR amyloidosis.
AstraZeneca would make a $200 million upfront payment to Ionis, plus conditional payments of up to $485 million following regulatory approvals.
It would also pay up to $2.9 billion of sales-related milestones based on sales thresholds between $500 million and $6 billion, plus royalties in the range of low double-digit to mid-twenties percentage.
Mining company Fresnillo slipped 0.7% to 887p on announcing that the startup of its Juanicipio project with MAG Silver in Mexico had been delayed for six months due to grid connection issues.
The project had been delivered for plant commissioning on schedule, but Mexico's state-owned electrical hadnt granted approval to tie-in to the grid due to pandemic staff shortages.
Mining company Anglo American shed 0.4% to £30.28, having confirmed it was in discussions with Brazil's Vale about potentially jointly develop the Serpentina iron ore resource there.
Anglo American said the talks were preliminary in nature.
Construction company Northern Bear dropped 9.0% to 60.5p after legal action was launched by Engie Regeneration against one of its subsidiaries, Springs Roofing, with the claim amounting to £1.9 million.
The potential claim was disclosed as a contingent liability in the company's annual report and accounts for the year through March and was related to a roofing contract. It said it would defend the claim vigorously.
Oil company United Oil & Gas jumped 12% to 2.53p on announcing that oil had been found at a joint-venture development well in Egypt.
The AJ-13 well in the Abu Sennan licence encountered 17.5 metres of net pay in the oil-bearing upper and lower Bahariya reservoir targets