UK Home Prices Recover, Construction Output Drops

Arthi Gupta
14 Sep, 2012
New York City

The UK indexes advanced following the world markets rally sparked by the U.S. Federal Reserve to print more money. The UK construction output fell and Irish surplus increased in July. Home prices in the United Kingdom rebounded in August.

[R]4:30 PM London – The UK indexes advanced following the world markets rally sparked by the U.S. Federal Reserve to print more money. The UK construction output fell and Irish surplus increased in July. Home prices in the United Kingdom rebounded in August.[/R]

The UK indexes soared more than 1% after the Federal Reserve moved to lower chronic unemployment with the help of unlimited bond purchase. The move also sparked a rally in commodities and resource sector.

In London, the benchmark index FTSE 100 surged 102.80 or 1.8% to 5,922.91 and the pound edged higher to $1.6223.

For the week, the FTSE 100 rose 2.2%.

UK Construction Output Drops

The UK construction output fell in July, data released by the Office for National Statistics showed.

The total volume of construction output in July declined 10.1% lower from a year ago.

In the May to July period, the volume of construction output decreased 10% compared to the same period last year. New work decreased 14.2% and repair and maintenance decreased 1.2%.

UK Home Prices Recover

Home prices in the United Kingdom rebounded in August, data from a survey by Acadametrics and LSL Property Services showed.

The home price index increased 0.1% on a monthly basis in August, after staying unchanged in July.

The average price of a home in England and Wales rose to £226,243 in August, from the £226,090 recorded in July.

Compared to August 2011, home prices, on average, increased 2.6% in August, following the 3.3% gain in July.

Irish Surplus Improves

Ireland''s seasonally adjusted trade surplus increased 12.6% to €3.92 billion in July from €3.49 billion in June, preliminary data released by the Central Statistics Office showed

Exports rose a seasonally adjusted 6% sequentially to €7.93 billion in July. Imports climbed 0.4% from a month ago to €4 billion in July.

Gainers & Losers

BP Plc rose 1.4% to 450.85 pence after the oil and gas explorer agreed to sell its 18.36% non-operated interest in the Draugen field in the Norwegian Sea to AS Norske Shell for $240 million in cash.

Chemring Group plc surged 6.9% to 349.60 pence after the defense equipment maker announced extension of deadline for Carlyle Group to make an offer.

InterContinental Hotels Group Plc climbed 2.1% to 1,653 pence after the hotel operator proposed to pay shareholders a special dividend of $1.72 or 108.4 pence per existing ordinary share.

JD Wetherspoon Plc soared 4.2% to 480 pence after the pub chain operator reported full year total sales rose 11.7% to £1,197.1 million on comparable store sales increase of 3.2%.

Profit before tax and exceptional items increased 8.4% to £72.4 million.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc gained 2.6% to 280.9 pence after the lender plans to launch a public offering of its fully-owned subsidiary Direct Line Insurance Group Plc.