London - Top UK shares rose on Friday, nearing all-time highs as real-estate stocks extended gains from a rebound in property prices and drugmaker Shire got a lift from a priority drug review in the United States.
The FTSE 100 rose 0.3 percent to 7,037.57 points, close to an all-time high of 7,065.08 points hit in March.
The index's rise was in line with the European region on a positive day for global equities; it also further underscored just how little political uncertainty has affected top listed companies in Britain just weeks before the most unpredictable election in a generation.
Shire shares rose 4.2 percent, the top gainers on the FTSE 100, after the drugmaker said the US FDA regulator had granted a priority review to its application for dry-eye disease treatment lifitegrast. The stock was playing catch-up to its US-listed ADRs, which rose overnight, traders said.
Homebuilders Barratt Developments and Taylor Wimpey were up more than 2 percent, as was property-listing company Zoopla, a day after data pointed to a rebound in British house-price growth in March.
UK industrial and manufacturing output data due at 08h30 GMT was also in focus as investors scrutinise the economy ahead of the May 7 election.
“The last two months have seen the manufacturing data miss forecasts, so another slip today could provide the death knell for the FTSE's record-eyeing run,” said Connor Campbell, analyst at Spreadex.
While neither Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives nor Ed Miliband's Labour Party is forecast to win an overall majority in Britain's 650-seat parliament, Old Mutual Global Investors' head of UK equities Richard Buxton said he was making no short-term portfolio changes and sticking to financial and cyclical stocks.
Meanwhile, mining stocks including Anglo American, Glencore and Rio Tinto were down between 0.6 and 1.4 percent. Steel-making-ingredient iron ore is veering to a new crisis as prices for future delivery of the commodity slide 30 percent in the space of a month.
UK recruiter Hays also fell 3.7 percent after it reported a slowdown in UK net fee growth ahead of the election, as companies held back on hiring decisions.
Reuters