FTSE 100 closes at record high on rate cut bets; AstraZeneca shines

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By Utkarsh Hathi

Nov 11 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 closed at a record high for the second straight session on Tuesday, as weak UK labour market data boosted hopes for Bank of England rate cuts and drugmaker AstraZeneca hit an all-time high.

The blue-chip index .FTSE ended up 1.2% at 9,899.6 points, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 .FTMC gained 0.8%.

AstraZeneca rose 2.6% to solidify its position as Britain's largest listed stock by market value, building on momentum from last week's forecast-beating quarterly results.

Expectations for a BoE rate cut in December were bolstered by clear signs of cooling in Britain's labour market, with unemployment increasing to 5%, the highest in four years, and wage growth continued to slow.

"There's more slack building in the labour market - and perhaps more so than assumed by the MPC (the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee) in its November projections; and two, pay momentum continues to slow. Both should be encouraging for the MPC," said Deutsche Bank's chief economist Sanjay Raja.

The pound initially fell against the dollar following the data, before stabilising to trade nearly flat.

In equities, the pharma .FTNMX201030 and healthcare .FTUB2010 indexes both gained more than 2.5%, as AstraZeneca was joined by GSK rising 3% GSK.L, while consumer healthcare group Haleon HLN.L climbed 3.2%.

Among energy companies, Shell SHEL.L rose 2.2% to its highest in more than a year, while BP BP.L gained 2.6%, buoyed by higher oil prices due to U.S. sanctions on Russian oil.

Vodafone VOD.L jumped 8.3% to a more-than two-year high after a strong performance in Germany helped the company to raise its annual profit forecast and lift dividends for the first time in eight years.

Scientific tools maker Oxford Instruments OXIG.L surged 14.9%, its biggest single-day gain in nearly four years, on improved order momentum.

On the downside, food supplier Hilton Food HFG.L slumped 22.7% to a ten-year low after it warned that profit growth was likely to be challenging in the next financial year.

(Reporting by Utkarsh Tushar Hathi in Bengaluru. Editing by Vijay Kishore and Mark Potter)

((utkarshtushar.hathi@thomsonreuters.com))