UK Falls, Europe Rises

123jump.com Staff
26 Aug, 2008
New York City

Stocks in London fell marginally and tracked the volatility in crude oil futures and metals markets. A weak reading on German business and consumer confidence weighed on the trading in the European region. Home mortgage approval in UK in July fell 65% as lenders kept tighter control. Home equity loans hovered around 50% of total loans issued. Mortgage lending in the month rose

[R]1:00PM New York, 6:00PM London - U.K. mortgage approvals for house purchase decline 65% in July.

Stocks in London fell marginally weighed by commodity stocks as oil prices fell below $113 per barrel on a rising dollar.

Market Sentiment

In London trading FTSE 100 fell 0.63% or 34.9 to 5,470.70.

Of the 102 stocks in FTSE 100 index 32 rose, 69 declined, and 1 was unchanged. Liberty International led advancers in the index shares with a rise of 5.34% followed by WPP Group increasing 3.05%.

U.K Mortgage Approvals Fall 65%

The British Bankers of Association reported on its Web site today that approvals for house purchase dropped 65% to 22,448 from a year ago, while approvals for remortgaging in July fell 21% from a year ago and were around 50% of all approvals.

Mortgage lending in July rose £4.3 billion, a flat growth from the previous month and consumer credit increased £0.1 billion in July. However consumer credit was below the previous six-month average of £0.3 billion.

In addition, personal deposit growth was weak and consequently the annual growth rate fell by 0.8% to 4.8%.

BBA statistics director David Dooks commented, “It would, however, be premature to think that the housing market will now start to recover, because overall approval activity continues to be very low. The pressures on household budgets are reflected in the relatively weak rise in individuals' deposits and, with consumer borrowing growing only slowly it seems that consumers are acting prudently.""""

IMF Slashes Growth in Euro-Zone to 1.4%

THE International Monetary Fund slashed its economic growth forecast for the euro-zone to 1.4% from 1.7% for this year and lowered its estimate for growth to 0.9% from 1.2% in the year 2009. The estimate for the growth in the euro zone is still higher than estimate of flat to 0.5% growth rate by 123jump.com.

The IMF also lowered the world growth to 3.9% from an earlier estimate of 4.1%, while 2009 growth has been revised downwards to 3.7% from 3.9%.

Growth in the U.S. for this year was however left unchanged at 1.3%, but its growth for 2009 was cut to 0.7% from 0.8% projected earlier.

Gainers & Losers

Liberty International led advancers in the FTSE 100 index shares with a rise of 5.34% followed by rises in WPP Group of 3.05%, in First Group of 2.15%, in Next Plc of 2.05%, and Kingfisher of 1.97%.

Retailers rose buoyed by a drop in oil prices below $113 per barrel. Tesco dipped 0.10% as well.

Ferrexpo led decliners in the FTSE 100 index shares with a fall of 8.72% followed by losses in Enterprise Inns of 5.65%, in Rexam Plc of 3.62%, in Johnson Matthey of 3.47%, and Kazakhmys of 3.46%.

Commodity stocks retreated on falling oil prices. Eurasian Natural plunged 3.10%, Anglo America lost 2.64% and Xstrata plunged 2.52%.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 34.90 or 0.63% to 5,470.70, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 12.68 or 0.29% to close at 4,368.55 and in Frankfurt DAX index higher 43.57 or 0.69% to close at 6,340.52. In Zurich trading SMI increased 31.14 or 0.44% to close at 7,093.72.