Results from London-focused estate and lettings agent Foxtons (FOXT) suggest reports of a demise for the capital’s property market may have been a bit premature, with the shares rising 2.4% to 60.4p. Synonymous with the boom in London property prices in the last decade and more the company had endured a tough time even before the pandemic as the market cooled, although a strong balance sheet ...

We are championing UK stocks despite the introduction of the latest lockdown measures. For more than four years London-listed shares have trailed in the wake of nearly all other major global markets, but the early Christmas present of a Brexit deal should end much of the uncertainty which led to this underperformance. We are already seeing a dramatic reversal in fortunes with the FTSE 100 going ...

Stocks eased on Friday as prime minister Johnson warned of a ‘strong possibility’ that the UK would eave the EU on 1 January without a trade deal. The two sides have set a deadline of Sunday to resolve their differences over fishing rights, a ‘level playing field’ and ongoing regulation. At 8.30am the FTSE 100 index was down 29 points or 0.4% at 6,571, pulled lower by telecoms, house ...

According to property portal Rightmove (RMV) the last four weeks has seen the highest number of agreed house sales on its platform in a single month since it started tracking the data over a decade ago, helped by a waiver on stamp duty on houses worth £500,000 or less. The firm believes ‘the rulebook has been rewritten as the post-lockdown mini-boom accelerates rather than slows down.’ The ...

The decision by chancellor Rishi Sunak to temporarily waive stamp duty on the purchase of homes up to the value of £500,000 in England and Northern Ireland until the end of March 2021 has reignited the housing market after months of hibernation caused by the coronavirus. Since the announcement on 8 July, shares in the housebuilders have mostly beaten the FTSE All-Share index with gains of ...

Chancellor’s Rishi Sunak’s Summer Statement – described as a mini-budget in some quarters – delivered more or less what had been expected. In the absence of any big surprises the FTSE 100 delivered a bit of a shrug to the announcement, remaining subdued down 0.4% at 6,167.61, and sterling was unchanged against the dollar. Following a wave of job losses being announced across ...

The housing market is emerging from hibernation but as investors in directly related sectors like housebuilders and estate agents count the cost of lockdown they have seen a significant divergence in share price performance. There are a number of factors behind these disparities. A look at the table of year-to-date performance suggests that financial strength has been a clear dividing line but ...

UK stocks opened substantially higher on Friday after Donald Trump laid out reopening plans for the US economy, with the FTSE 100 up 158 points or 2.8% at 5,786.1 early on. Markets were also buoyed by reports that a coronavirus treatment from Gilead Sciences had delivered positive results. The rally came despite China announcing its first every quarterly economic contraction on record, with ...

UK equity rallied strongly in early trade on Friday as investors welcome the removal of several key risks that have been hanging over the stock market, sparking the pound to post its biggest gain against the dollar in two and a half years, with £1 worth $1.34. The market now has more confidence that Prime Minister Boris Johnson should be able to pass a Brexit deal and for the UK to formally ...

Despite a drag from miners, London’s FTSE 100 recovered by 10.9 points to trade at 7,500 on Friday with the FTSE 250 up 41.6 points to 19,862, as Vodafone (VOD) jumped on plans to create a separate European tower company and education firm Pearson (PSON) perked up on a positive trading missive. Mobile giant Vodafone rose 7.4% to 142p on news it will legally separate its towers business into ...

Having attempted a recovery earlier in the year shares in London-focused estate agent Foxtons (FOXT) are back on the floor and heading in the direction of all-time lows. Down 5.8% to 56.5p the stock is close to its absolute nadir of around 44p. This follows a trading update which follows the gloomy pattern set in recent months and years. In hindsight the IPO of Foxtons looks particularly ...

UK markets start the week flat with energy stocks such as BP (BP.), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB) and John Wood Group (WG.) supporting the FTSE 100 at 7,437 as Brent crude prices continue to move up while Travel stocks are the main losers. On a quiet day for company news, airline Ryanair (RYA) reports full year profits down 29% to €1.02bn as strong traffic growth is offset by lower ...

The FTSE 100 takes its cue from weak trading in Asia overnight and weakness in commodity markets to slip 0.2% to 7,303.55 early on. Non-life insurer Lancashire Holdings (LRE) expects to report a loss in the third quarter owing to an expected loss of $30m from claims within its marine portfolio. The company also says it expected further losses in the range of $25m to $45m from exposure to ...

After a weak start, the FTSE 100 is up 3.9 points to 7,738.78 following strong trading on Wall Street overnight. The government’s confirmation of a reduction in the fixed odds betting terminals stake limit has impacted the listed bookies. William Hill (WMH) is down 3.7% to 306p, 888 Holdings (888) is off 2.8% to 307.6p and GVC (GVC) down 3.2% to 886p. Letter and parcels delivery company ...

Property prices in parts of London are down as much as 15% in the past 12 months and overall are down 2.6% according to data from estate agent Your Move. This represents the steepest rate of annual decline since August 2009, in the wake of the financial crisis. As such it could be bad news for real estate stocks with heavy exposure to the capital like housebuilder Berkeley (BKG) and ...

UK online fashion retailer ASOS (ASC:AIM) on Thursday beat forecasts for sales growth in the key Christmas period, putting it firmly in the sector’s winners’ camp for festive trading. The internet clothing and accessories business is among the main reasons why some many traditional high street chains have struggled for sales over Christmas, including Debenhams (DEB) (read here) and Marks ...

A disappointing end to 2017 for estate agent Countrywide (CWD) prompts a damaging profit warning with the shares down 15.6% to 114.1p. The UK’s leading estate agent play expects full year income of £672m, down 9% on 2016. London-focused rival Foxtons (FOXT) is also lower in sympathy, down at 4.4% at 78.4p. TWIN THREATS Countrywide arguably faces two issues. The first is that the wider ...

The markets approach the New Year in a fairly resilient mood, characterised by decent earnings growth from companies, several examples of M&A activity and the end of another year in what has been a long bull-run. Although the general public may be fixated with Bitcoin at present, we believe there are plenty of opportunities for your money in the UK market and overseas, as we explain in this ...

London estate agency Foxtons (FOXT) gains 6.9% to 78p as it posts a resilient update for the third quarter. Yet that still leaves the shares significantly down on the price at which the company joined the stock market four years ago. The company was floated on the Main Market in 2013 at 230p and shareholders have endured a steady fall in the value of their investment as the London property ...

The FTSE 100 is trading 17 points higher at 7,532 after positive performances on Wall Street and in Asian markets. British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines (IAG) is one of the main risers on the Main Market, up 1.7% to 646p. All eyes will be on UK jobs data due out on Wednesday morning. Cilit Bang and Durex condom maker Reckitt Benckiser (RB.) falls 1.8% on revealing its ...