London open: FTSE rises as investors mull house price data

London stocks rose in early trade on Monday, taking their cue from a positive finish on Wall Street at the end of last week as investors continued to mull the Bank of England’s latest rate hike.

At 0915 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 0.4% at 7,544.71.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "The FTSE 100 is maintaining its contrarian stance in terms of performance, as it continues to benefit inter alia from the strength of an oil price which has now risen by 20% in the year to date. In addition, the mature, cyclical and to some extent defensive nature of its components have also attracted renewed interest from investors given the turmoil being seen elsewhere.

"Whereas high growth stocks have felt the full force of investor rotation in anticipation of higher rates within an inflationary environment, these very factors have highlighted the attraction of certain stocks which display protection against inflation through strong pricing power.

"While volatility is most likely to continue at least until the Federal Reserve announcement in March, investors will continue to search for alternative investment destinations until some of the global economic tightening concerns settle. With its own rise in the year to date of 2.3%, the FTSE 100 could continue to be on the radar for such investors."

Market participants were digesting the latest survey from mortgage lender Halifax, which showed that house prices are expected to slow “considerably” over the next 12 months as households face a cost-of-living squeeze.

Price in January rose 0.3% month on month, the slowest pace since last June in a further confirmation that the post-Covid pandemic recovery is running out of steam as soaring consumer prices dampen sentiment. Year on year, prices were 9.7% higher.

"This situation is expected to become more acute in the short-term as household budgets face even greater pressure from an increase in the cost of living, and rises in interest rates begin to feed through to mortgage rates," said Halifax managing director Russell Galley.

He added that it remained likely that the rate of house price growth “will slow considerably over the next year" and, despite affordability at historically low levels, price rises were outpacing wage growth with younger buyers also struggling to raise deposits.

In equity markets, Reckitt Benckiser edged higher after Bloomberg reported that the consumer goods company was considering options for its infant nutrition unit, including a potential sale.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,544.71 0.38%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,790.41 0.36%
techMARK (TASX) 4,391.80 0.14%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Next (NXT) 7,288.00p 2.04%
Pearson (PSON) 620.80p 1.84%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 1,078.50p 1.60%
Prudential (PRU) 1,239.00p 1.52%
Rightmove (RMV) 644.20p 1.29%
Melrose Industries (MRO) 150.05p 1.28%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 52.03p 1.27%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) 7,234.00p 1.26%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 156.98p 1.23%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,907.00p 1.19%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Evraz (EVR) 464.20p -4.94%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 604.20p -1.44%
BT Group (BT.A) 190.10p -1.22%
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 2,700.00p -0.92%
BP (BP.) 402.45p -0.85%
WPP (WPP) 1,173.50p -0.84%
Aveva Group (AVV) 2,872.00p -0.73%
Halma (HLMA) 2,416.00p -0.66%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 148.40p -0.64%
Tesco (TSCO) 293.90p -0.56%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Pantheon International (PIN) 324.00p 4.18%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 335.40p 2.82%
Clarkson (CKN) 3,305.00p 2.80%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 264.40p 2.48%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 15.05p 2.38%
FirstGroup (FGP) 103.50p 2.17%
Centrica (CNA) 78.10p 2.12%
Apax Global Alpha Limited (APAX) 212.00p 1.92%
Man Group (EMG) 197.60p 1.91%
BlackRock Smaller Companies Trust (BRSC) 1,844.00p 1.77%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Future (FUTR) 2,796.00p -3.25%
Network International Holdings (NETW) 239.30p -2.45%
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 812.00p -1.93%
Trustpilot Group (TRST) 151.20p -1.82%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 295.10p -1.76%
Darktrace (DARK) 370.40p -1.75%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 35.26p -1.59%
Syncona Limited NPV (SYNC) 183.20p -1.51%
Capita (CPI) 30.66p -1.38%
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 323.80p -1.10%