LONDON (AFP) - The FTSE 100 slumped after taking its cue from a bleak session on Wall Street and a slide in pharmaceutical stocks.
At the close of trade on Friday, the FTSE 100 index was down 44.5 points at 4,760.8 with the broader indices also lower.
Volume was solid, with 2.5896 billion shares changing hands in 213,054 deals.
In New York, the major indices slid as the dollar suffered a renewed bout of selling after the US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan hinted that a further depreciation in the greenback may be necessary to trim the US current account deficit down.
"It seems persuasive that, given the size of the US current account deficit, a diminished appetite for adding to dollar balances must occur at some point," Greenspan said at a conference in Frankfurt.
His comments pushed the dollar back towards its all-time low against the euro, which is now trading at 1.3050 dollars.
This was just short of Thursday's record high of 1.3074. Before Greenspan spoke the euro was trading below 1.3040.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 91.7 points to 10,480.8, while the Nasdaq Composite was off 23.82 at 2,080.46.
In London, the pharmaceutical sector took a pounding with AstraZeneca down 222 pence at 2,145. The 9.38 percent slump in AstraZeneca's shares saw it finish as the biggest loser on the FTSE 100.
GlaxoSmithKline was the second worst performing issue, its shares falling 3.78 percent -- or 45 pence -- to 1,147, following cautious comments from a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official.
David Graham, associate director for science and medicine in the FDA's Office of Drug Safety, told a congressional hearing that certain drugs currently on the market warranted increased attention, including AstraZeneca's Crestor and GlaxoSmithkline's Serevent.
The comments came as he was being questioned on the withdrawal of Merck's anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx in September.
Brokers discounted the news, with Merrill Lynch maintaining its 'buy' rating on AstraZeneca. Merrill noted that safety concerns over Crestor are not new and have been largely discounted.
Morgan Stanley reiterated its 'overweight' stance, noting that although the sell-off seems to be an overreaction, it expects Crestor and the stock to struggle given the Vioxx environment, liability concerns and embattled FDA.
Seymour Pierce was also unmoved by the news, arguing that Graham is known as a "a bit of a loose cannon".
On the upside, Reuters gained 8-1/4 pence to 409 after the New York Times reported that the information group is reconsidering its long-term ownership of its 62 percent controlling stake in Instinet -- its US-listed financial data business.
"This would be good news for Reuters (which) could cash in over 680 million pounds for its stake," said CSFB as it repeated its 'buy' recommendation.
Remaining in the sector, BSkyB was another major gainer, up 9 at 557-1/2, lifted by comments from JP Morgan, which reiterated its 'overweight' stance and 800 pence fair value.
WPP also gained, 10-1/2 higher at 590 on the back of upbeat comments from the advertising giant's financial officer on Thursday.
Fund management groups were in favour, with Amvescap up 10-1/4 at 336, Man Group 26 pence higher at 1,456 and Schroders NV up 6 at 628.
Oil stocks gained as crude-oil futures climbed with investors attempting to recover the week's losses as they turn attention back to the state of winter fuel supplies.
December crude was at 46.95 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a rise of 73 cents. January crude was meanwhile up 77 cents at 47.15 dollars.
Shell rose 1-1/2 to 441-1/2, BP was up 4-1/2 at 538 and Cairn Energy up 25 at 1,547.
Among mining stock, Antofagasta finished atop the FTSE 100 leaderboard as its shares were 8 pence higher at 1,118 -- a 3.15 percent rise -- on the back of a positive note on the Chilean copper miner from Numis and the continuing weakness of the US dollar.
The broker said it expects Antofagasta shares to continue to perform as the company exceeds production targets, with analyst John Meyer reiterating his 'buy' stance and 1,367 pence price target.
Enterprise Inns shares rose by 17.50 pence -- or 2.84 percent -- to 633, making it the second best performing share on the FTSE 100.
Vodafone was the most popular issue among traders as 322 million shares changed hands.
Music giant EMI was the second most traded stock, after 78 million shares were exchanged.

11/19/2004 - 18:08 GMT - AFP