UK Retail Sales Drop 2.1%; Home Prices Struggle

Arthi Gupta
07 Jun, 2011
New York City

The UK indexes climbed after retail sales fell and home price rose in May. Irish property prices declined in April. BP plc may sell some of its 50% stake in TNK-BP joint venture to Russia based Rosneft.

[R]4:00 PM London – The UK indexes climbed after retail sales fell and home price rose in May. Irish property prices declined in April. BP plc may sell some of its 50% stake in TNK-BP joint venture to Russia based Rosneft.[/R]

In London, FTSE 100 Index gained 20.88 or 0.32% to 5,885.39 and the pound edged higher to close at $1.6450.

UK Retail Sales Drop

Retail sales in the UK declined in May after a temporary boost from spending during Easter holidays and Royal Wedding played out, the British Retail Consortium said.

Retail sales dropped 2.1% on a like-for-like basis from May last year after a 5.2% jump in April. Total sales fell 0.3% compared with a 3% increase in May 2010.

Non-food non-store sales, which includes the fast-growing internet retail sector rose 10.4% in May compared with a 13.7% rise in April.

UK Home Prices Rise

Home prices in the UK rose 0.1% on a monthly comparison in May, after April''s 1.4% decline, data from the Lloyds Banking Group Plc''s Halifax division showed.

The average UK home price in May was £160,519, 1.4% lower than in December last year on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Irish Property Prices Fall

Ireland''s residential property prices continued its downward trend in April, the Central Statistics Office said today.

Residential property prices fell 12.2% annually in April, faster than the 11.9% decrease seen in March. April''s decline was the biggest since June 2010.

On a monthly basis, prices decreased 1% in April after easing 1.7% in March.

BP May Sell TNK Venture Stake

BP plc is looking to sell about half of its 50% stake in its Russian joint venture TNK-BP Ltd. to Russian state-run oil company OAO Rosneft, according to reports.

Gainers & Losers

HSBC Holdings plc dipped 0.29% to 624.00 pence after the financial services provider agreed to pay $62.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit in New York filed by investors in a fund that lost money in the Bernard Madoff fraud.

Lamprell plc gained 0.51% to 392.0 pence after the provider of specialist engineering services to the oil and gas and renewables industry confirmed that its 2011 year-to-date performance is in line with management expectations. The company also remains optimistic about long-term prospects of the group.

Phoenix IT Group Plc surged 11.77% to 235.00 pence after the information technology services provider reported fiscal year 2011 revenues grew 10.5% to £271.6 million from £245.8 million a year ago, with organic revenue growth in all of its three divisions.

Smiths News Plc rose 2.93% to 96.75 pence after the supplier of newspapers, magazines and books, agreed to buy Dawson Holdings Plc for £20 million in cash.

Xchanging plc surged 3.13% to 98.75 pence after the business processing services provider announced the appointments of Ken Lever as Chief Executive Officer and David Bauernfeind as Chief Financial Officer.