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* FTSE 100 up 0.3%, FTSE 250 adds 0.3%

Nov 1 (Reuters) - A weaker pound helped lift UK's exporter-heavy FTSE 100 index on Monday with pharmaceutical stocks in the lead, while shares of British bank Barclays fell after its chief executive officer stepped down.

Barclays was down 2.7% in early deals after it said CEO Jes Staley is to stand down following British regulators' investigations into his ties with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The FTSE 100 index gained 0.3% by 0810 GMT, with drugmakers AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline among the top boosts.

Investor focus now is on the Bank of England meeting on Thursday, with a better-than-even chance of the central bank raising interest rates for the first time since the pandemic. .

The domestically focussed mid-cap index advanced 0.3%.

Commercial landlord Land Securities Group gained 0.7% after it announced plans to buy the property regeneration firm U and I Group for 190 million pounds ($259.46 million). (Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)