SkyePharma soars on asthma drug approval Skyepharma had already been spurred earlier in the day by news that it had received a $10m (£6m) milestone payment from Pacira Pharmaceuticals after the launch of pain drug Exparel, which was developed by SkyePharma in the US. Its shares ended the session 44.13 - 106.7pc - higher at 85.5p. Drug giant AstraZeneca was also in fine fettle, up 43.5p to £28.67, thanks to European regulators backing approval of a new diabetes medicine that it has developed with Bristol-Myers Squibb. The vote of confidence is a fillip for dapagliflozin, whose American approval has been hindered by regulators asking for more clinical data. Deutsche described the news as a "positive surprise." Astra's advance came as the FTSE 100 finished up 27.6 points at 5,772.15 while the FTSE 250 rose 21.85 points to 11,444.85. Oil giant BP came under pressure on the second anniversary of the Gulf of Mexico disaster, slipping 5.2 to 434.85p. But firmer copper prices supported the miners, with Kazakhmys putting on 21 to 889.5p and Anglo American adding 42p to £23.49. Further down the market, Wolf Minerals gained 0.63 to 24.38p after the miner announced details of a deal that should provide another £20m of loan financing for its attempt to restart tungsten production at a Devon mine. Prices for the in-demand metal have risen amid restrictions on exports from China. Banks joined the blue-chip diggers, with Lloyds Banking Group in particular bolstered by Investec, which repeated its "buy" rating on the Black Horse.Lloyds added 0.81 to 30.1p. Having been hurt earlier in the week by a fall in assets at its flagship AHL fund, Man Group recovered 2.3 to 95.7p. Both Credit Suisse and Bank of America-Merrill Lynch said they remained buyers of the hedge fund manager. With the market in the ascendant, Marks & Spencer ticked up despite Investec turning sellers of the ready-meals-to-knickers retailer. Earlier this week, M&S disappointed investors as it admitted that buying mistakes had caused it to run out of best-selling women's clothes. Analyst Bethany Hocking switched her rating to "sell." She cited concerns over consumer spending and uncertainty over whether M&S's plan to revitalise sales by taking steps such as refreshing its stores would bear fruit. While M&S gained 7 to 362.6p, mid-cap retailer SuperGroup swapped its trademark Superdry hoodie for a dunce's cap. After posting a profit warning, partly due to "arithmetic errors," the fashion retailer slumped 217.7 to 351.8p. But Inmarsat climbed 18.7 to 440.4p. Investors were relieved that the satellite operator had received an overdue $56.25m (£34.8m) payment from its American partner, LightSquared. The latter is building a US mobile broadband service with Inmarsat's spectrum. But it has been hindered by communications interference issues while constructing the broadband network, driving the company deep into the red. Inmarsat said that it would suspend further payments until 2014, which will give LightSquared breathing space to gain regulatory clearance for the network.