U.K. stocks advanced for the third day in four, led by Scottish & Newcastle Plc after Merrill Lynch & Co. raised its recommendation on shares of Britain's biggest brewer, Bloomberg revealed on October 20. The benchmark FTSE 100 Index added 21.20, or 0.5 percent, to 4632.90 as of 8:51 a.m. in London. The FTSE All-Share Index rose 7.89, or 0.3 percent, to 2297.88.

Scottish & Newcastle climbed 7.5 pence, or 1.9 percent, to 405 pence after Merrill Lynch analysts raised their recommendation on the stock to ``neutral'' from ``sell.'' The company said yesterday it expects to meet analysts' forecasts of a profit gain of as much as 9.3 percent this year. “With solidity and visibility of earnings, this stock is a safe heaven for investors,'' wrote Mark Blythman and Charles Winston, analysts at Merrill Lynch, in a research note.

24 October, 2004