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UK stocks opened higher on Wednesday as investors continued to shrug off fears about rising inflation, though sentiment will be tested Thursday when the Bank of England provides an update on interest rates.
At 0816, the benchmark FTSE 100 index was up 36.63 points, or 0.5%, at 7,572.41.
Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline firmed 0.3% to £16.496 after its ViiV Healthcare joint venture with Pfizer agreed to receive a $1.25 billion settlement from Gilead over a HIV patent infringement claim.
Gillead also agreed to a patent license agreement and to pay a 3% royalty on all future US sales of its Biktarvy HIV treatment.
Gambling technology group Playtech edged up 0.2% to 578p on announcing that didn't expect enough shareholders to support a proposed acquisition of the company by Aristocrat Leisure for the deal to proceed.
Playtech also announced that it was evaluating 'attractive' acquisition proposals from third parties in respect of its business-to-business and business-to-consumer assets.
Telecom giant Vodafone gained 2.1% to 130.6p after it revealed its third-quarter revenue grew 4.3%, putting it on track to meets its annual earnings guidance.
Vodafone's revenue for the three months through December increased to €11.68 billion, up from €11.20 billion year-on-year. Organic services revenue rose 2.7%.
Property group British Land rose 0.4% to 547.4p following news that it had acquired three warehouses at Hannah Close, in Wembley for £157 million, with completion expected by mid February.
The three warehouses comprised over 245,000 square feet on a 12.5 acre site and were fully let to Amazon, Euro Car Parts and the North London Waste Authority, generating an annual income of £3.6 million.
Property investor McKay Securities firmed 0.2% to 226.5p as it agreed to see the freehold interest for Great Brighams Mead, an office building in Reading's town centre, to King's Oak for $19 million.
The sale price reflected a premium of 21% to the 30 September book value, McKay said.
Water utility Severn Trent added 0.7% to £29.23, having reiterated its guidance, saying there had been no changes to its business performance or outlook since since its interim results announcement in November.
Severn Trent said a 'strong' operational performance was evident across all areas of its business.
Tech company WANdisco climbed 3.2% to 325p as it guided for annual revenue in line with current expectations that had been upgraded last month.
WANdisco's fourth-quarter bookings had risen to $8.4 million, up from $6.5 million year-on-year. For the full year, bookings increased 17% to $11.9 million.