FTSE 100 Live 22 December: UK GDP figures, UK economy third quarter, UK economic recovery, Covid-19 impact on economy, Wall Street rebound

Swiss drugs giant Novartis has agreed a deal to buy a London gene therapy startup for $1.5 billion (£1.1 billion).

Novartis will pay $800 million (£604 million) for Gyroscope Therapeutics now and has the potential to make additional milestone payments of up to $700 million (£528 million).

Gyroscope, founded in 2016, develops gene therapies to treat eye issues. The company has developed the world’s first treatment for geographic atrophy (GA), an advanced form of dry age-related macular degeneration that leads to blindness.

Gyroscope was cofounded by Syncona Investment Management, a London-listed company that specialises in developing life sciences businesses. Syncona said the sale to Novartis delivered a 55% return on its investment in the project. The sale should bring in £334 million of cash when the deal closes.

Shares in Syncona rose 17p, or 8.5%, to 217p. Novartis was 0.3p, or 0.1%, lower at 79.08p in Zurich.

^{METRO Bank today became the latest lender to be punished by watchdogs in a busy period for bank malfeasance.}

^{The new style bank which aimed to shake-up customer service on the high street revealed an accounting error in 2019.}

^{It had mis-reported the value of its commercial loan portfolio, an error that once identified saw the shares crash and led to the later departure of CEO Craig Donaldson after ten years in charge.}

^{Today the Bank of England slapped Metro with a £5.38 million fine.}

Wizz Air has boosted its presence at Gatwick with plans for another four Airbus A321s at the airport from the spring.

The expansion comes after it acquired 15 daily slot pairs from Norwegian Air Shuttle.

Central and eastern Europe-focused Wizz currently has one aircraft at Gatwick, having opened a base in October 2020 as part of 18 added across its network since the start of the pandemic. Its new Gatwick routes are still to be announced.

Chief executive József Váradi said: “The 2022 season has the potential to be a tremendous opportunity for UK aviation to get back on its feet.”

LAYWERS were celebrating today after the High Court refused an attempt by Volkswagen to have a class action suit dismissed.

The car giant has been plagued by the “dieselgate” emissions scandal since 2015 when it emerged it had installed devices to rig its pollution emissions data.

The hottest stock in the FTSE 100 index during 2021? Look no further than the unglamorous world of plant and equipment hire.

Investors who backed Sunbelt owner Ashtead have seen an impressive rise of 72% after the company benefited from infrastructure spending and the rebuilding of the US economy.

Other big risers in a list produced today by Hargreaves Lansdown include miner Glencore and Royal Mail after gains of more than 55%.

Many of last year’s pandemic winners suffered a hangover this year, with betting firm Flutter Entertaintment the biggest faller overall at 27%. Ocado dropped 26% and London Stock Exchange was off 25% in the wake of its Refinitiv takeover.

Hopes of a travel rebound also evaporated, resulting in another dismal showing for British Airways owner IAG.

The UK economy was slowing down well before Omicron emerged, figures out today show, putting the recovery in clear jeopardy.

European markets are set to consolidate gains after Monday’s dip presented a buying opportunity in yesterday’s session.

Investors put Covid fears to one side to leave the FTSE 100 index almost 1.4% higher, wiith British Airways owner IAG surging 7% at the top of the risers board.

Wall Street also finished sharply higher on Tuesday after the tech-focused Nasdaq rebounded 2.4% and the S&P 500 saw an improvement of 1.8%.

Buying activity is set to slow today, with a more subdued session for Asian markets pointing to a steady but unspectacular start to trading in London. CMC Markets is predicting that the FTSE 100 index will open seven points higher at 7304.