London close: Housebuilding stocks lift equities higher

UK stocks advanced on Tuesday, boosted by housebuilders after a report showed a record increase in November house prices.

Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Development were among the top risers on the FTSE 100 after a report from property group Haart showed house prices in November rose 13.4% annually and 3.7% on the month to reach an average of £231,857.

Haart chief executive Paul Smith said the UK experienced the steepest monthly and annual increase on record following a surge in registrations from buy-to-let investors since the Autumn Statement announced higher stamp duty would be introduced on 1 April.

The housing sector was also supported by the potential windfall from the cost of rebuilding and repairing the numerous homes damaged in the UK floods. In England and Wales there are nine severe flood warnings, mostly in York which was badly hit by flooding on Saturday.

However, UK insurers took a hit as it emerged the floods could cost the economy up to £5.8bn, with insurers likely to see claims of up to £1.5bn. RSA Insurance’s shares were in the red.

Meanwhile, mining companies were under pressure including Anglo American, Antofagasta and Rio Tinto as a report showed a 0.1% contraction in UK manufacturing activity this year.

EEF said the manufacturing industry was dragged down by lower productivity in oil and gas, weakness in the steel industry and a tough exports market. A strong pound also deterred international sales and low oil prices hurt industry investment.

However, oil prices staged a recovery from Monday’s declines. At 1626 GMT Brent crude rose 2.7% to $37.66 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate increased 2.4% to $37.72 per barrel.

Gold reversed earlier gains to fall 0.05% on the Comex while copper jumped 3.13% and silver rose 0.66%.

In the US, stocks were posting gains after positive economic data.

The US Conference Board’s consumer confidence index rose to 96.5 in December from 92.6 the previous month, comfortably beating economists’ expectations for a reading of 93.6.

The US S&P/Case-Shiller Composite-20 house price index rose 5.5% year-on-year in October, compared to analysts’ estimates of 5.6% and the previous month’s 5.45%.

Data from the Census Bureau showed the US trade deficit on goods in November narrowed to $60.5bn from an upward revised $61.96bn the previous month. Analysts had been expecting a deficit of $60.7bn in November. Imports fell 1.8% last month while exports dropped 2%.

On the corporate front, Supermarket retailer Sainsbury’s was under the cosh as the sale of its pharmacy business to Celesio has been delayed after the UK competition watchdog said it was launching a full investigation. The Competition and Markets Authority said on Tuesday that it has referred Sainsbury's deal to outsource the management of its pharmacies to Celesio to a 'phase 2' investigation.

Ryanair flew higher after saying it delivered 70% of all traffic growth at Cork, Dublin, Knock and Shannon airports this year, which saw record growth for Irish tourism.

Dairy Crest gained as it confirmed it had completed the sale of its Dairies operations to Müller UK & Ireland Group.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 6,299.33 0.71%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 17,541.51 0.73%
techMARK (TASX) 3,263.47 1.34%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 2,354.00p 4.58%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 203.60p 3.25%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,036.00p 3.19%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,206.00p 2.81%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,523.00p 2.77%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 2,773.00p 2.63%
St James's Place (STJ) 1,022.00p 2.61%
Sky (SKY) 1,126.00p 2.46%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,701.00p 2.44%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 631.00p 2.44%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Anglo American (AAL) 307.35p -6.31%
Pearson (PSON) 745.50p -2.93%
BP (BP.) 359.75p -1.69%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 585.00p -1.68%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 1,975.00p -1.57%
Fresnillo (FRES) 706.00p -1.33%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 581.40p -1.29%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,345.00p -1.03%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 264.90p -0.56%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 460.70p -0.41%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Jimmy Choo (CHOO) 140.00p 6.87%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 340.60p 5.97%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,102.00p 4.45%
Lookers (LOOK) 185.00p 4.05%
Card Factory (CARD) 375.90p 4.01%
Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE) 802.00p 3.79%
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 410.20p 3.72%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 580.50p 3.66%
Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 378.40p 3.28%
esure Group (ESUR) 255.90p 3.27%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Evraz (EVR) 71.40p -5.87%
Serco Group (SRP) 97.05p -4.67%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 326.10p -4.31%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 173.00p -3.24%
Keller Group (KLR) 809.00p -3.17%
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT) 922.00p -2.90%
Carillion (CLLN) 308.00p -2.84%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 276.10p -2.78%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 6,360.00p -2.38%
Clarkson (CKN) 2,287.00p -2.14%