Aberdeen and SABMiller drive FTSE higher

Brewer SABMiller soars 20%

The FTSE 100 is set for its biggest daily gain in a week, after M&A talk lifted brewer SABMiller 20% and Aberdeen Asset Management received an upgrade.

The index was up 1.1% in early afternoon trading, as positive company news boosted the blue chips. Much of the uplift came from SABMiller, which rose by 23% during morning trading after Brazilian-Belgian brewer AB InBev said it had "made an approach" to the London-listed brewer in relation to merging the two companies. Aberdeen Asset Management has also jumped 4% after JP Morgan Cazenove indicated that it believes there is an 11.6% potential upside for the asset manager. Elsewhere, most Asian indices closed Wednesday higher. Following a late day spike, the Shanghai composite index ...