European Midday Update: Europe Shuffles Before Fed Meeting

LONDON -- The outcome of the Federal Reserve meeting won't be known here until 7:15 p.m. London time, so any impact from the decision will be felt Thursday -- so this Wednesday in Europe is all about fine-tuning portfolios.

The FTSE 100 managed an opening burst of 19 points but by midmorning stood just 0.9 points higher at 6376.2. The Techmark moved up 7.8 points to 3422.0 before easing back to stand 5.7 points lower at 3408.3.

Pharmaceuticals continued to attract buyers, with Glaxo Wellcome (GLX Quote) moving up 62p to 19.40 ($29.10) on relief that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was less than scathing about its drug Lontronex, although there was apparently a warning about side effects. SG Securities has a buy note on the stock this morning. Merger partner SmithKline Beecham (SBH Quote) was up 20p to 874.

Tuesday's star performer Oxford Glycosciences, which, along with Cambridge Antibodies, has the potential to develop drugs using the maps of the human genome, advanced another 135p to 19.97. Lehman Brothers has put out a "strong buy" note on the stock and placed a 26 price target on the stock. ...