Shares in the US' largest pharmaceutical companies fell sharply as Donald Trump took them to task in his first news conference since his electoral acceptance speech.

In the UK, GSK fell 0.8 per cent to 1,581.5p, while AstraZeneca fell 1.7 per cent to 4,579p and Hikma fell 1.4 per cent to 1,900p after Trump said he will force so-called big pharma to cut its prices.

Across the pond, the S&P 500 health care index fell 1.2 per cent to 816.4 points, while Nasdaq's biotechnology index fell 2.6 per cent to 2,919.6 points.

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