London’s FTSE 100 was up 1.5% at 7,253.88 in afternoon trade on Friday.
Investment firm Abrdn was the standout gainer on the index, closely followed by aerospace and defence group Rolls-Royce.
On the downside, Berkeley, Barratt Developments, Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey were all in the red after downgrades at HSBC. Berkeley was cut to ‘reduce’ from ‘hold’, while all the others were downgraded to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’.
HSBC said the sector was set for a downturn in the face of rising interest rates and falling house prices.
The bank said in a note: “The HSBC Building Materials team now forecasts a 20% fall in UK housing demand for a year from this autumn, a concomitant 7.5% fall in UK existing house prices, excluding central London at double that, and a 5% fall in UK new build prices.”
FTSE 100 – Risers
Abrdn (ABDN) 151.20p 6.82%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 74.69p 4.74%
Prudential (PRU) 922.60p 4.65%
SEGRO (SGRO) 932.80p 4.62%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,060.50p 4.33%
St James’s Place (STJ) 1,088.50p 4.26%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,093.00p 4.10%
Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 798.80p 3.85%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 4,306.00p 3.71%
Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 2,935.00p 3.60%
FTSE 100 – Fallers
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,442.00p -4.10%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 403.10p -2.91%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,429.00p -2.79%
GSK (GSK) 1,339.20p -1.33%
Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 546.40p -1.09%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 104.10p -0.86%
National Grid (NG.) 1,066.50p -0.79%
BT Group (BT.A) 145.15p -0.62%
Haleon (HLN) 248.25p -0.58%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,434.50p -0.32%
