Anglo American surges on 38.84 bln buyout proposal
AstraZeneca jumps on beating quarterly estimates
Unilever up after betterthanexpected Q1 sales growth
FTSE 100 up 0.6, FTSE 250 off 0.2

April 25 Reuters Britain39;s benchmark FTSE 100 stock index touched a record high on Thursday led by miner Anglo American on a buyout offer from BHP Group, while investors cheered earnings from several bluechip firms including Unilever, AstraZeneca and Barclays.

Anglo American surged 12.5 to a ninemonth high after BHP it made an offer to buy the Londonlisted miner, valuing its share capital at 31.1 billion pounds 38.91 billion.

The deal would create the world39;s biggest copper miner with around 10 of global output. BHP39;s UKlisted stock , however, fell 2.7.

The deal also means that BHP is going to have access to a much larger amount of copper and iron ore. That39;s a key area for future growth and markets are really catching on with that impressive jump in the share price, said Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst, City Index.

The FTSE 350 industrial metal miners index rose 1.7, while the bluechip FTSE 100 0.6 to 8,083.90, after hitting a record high of 8,098.14 earlier.

The FTSE 100 doesn39;t have as many tech stocks compared to U.S. indices and you39;ve got the idea of the weaker pound, which is also supported and UK index, Cincotta added.

Other European markets slipped and Wall Street was set to come under pressure after social media giant Meta Platforms gave a dour…