FTSE bounces higher amid rises for housebuilders and miners

The FTSE 100 finished 45.53 points, or 0.55%, higher to end the day at 8,356.94.

The London Stock Exchange sign (PA) (PA Wire)

London’s top stock index rose to its highest level this month, rebounding from a dip in Friday’s previous trading session.

Miners and housebuilders were among those to perform strongly at the start of the week on the FTSE.

However, BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce slumped during a tough session for the defence sector after reports Germany was to stop directly financing new military aid for Ukraine.

The FTSE 100 finished 45.53 points, or 0.55%, higher to end the day at 8,356.94.

Across the Channel, the main indexes opened trading a touch lower but also ticked higher in afternoon trading amid renewed hopes for interest rate cuts.

The Cac 40 in France ended 0.7% higher and the Dax index was up 0.58% at the close.

Stateside, Wall Street opened higher ahead of a key week for economic updates, including the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium.

“While equity indices begin the week on a positive note, the US dollar slips to a seven-month low on rate cut expectations,” said Axel Rudolph, senior technical analyst at IG.

“The start of the week kicked off on a positive footing for stock index bulls with mostly further advances being made in low volume and volatility ahead of Wednesday’s FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) minutes and the end-of-week Jackson Hole symposium.”

In currency, weakness in the dollar helped the pound rise to its highest level against the US currency for a month.

The pound was up 0.29% at 1.298 US dollars, and was down 0.07% at 1.172 euro.

In company news, housebuilder Barratt was firmly in the green after it told investors it will complete its purchase of rival Redrow later this week.

It comes despite a UK watchdog saying local competition concerns, in Whitchurch, Shropshire, need to be addressed for the £2.5 billion takeover to go ahead.

Shares in Barratt were 3.4% higher at 554p at the end of trading on Monday.

Trading platform firm Plus500 was a riser after it upgraded its profit forecast and boosted its dividend to shareholders following a record number of new retail customers in the first half of 2024.

The London-listed firm saw first-half profit rise to 148.8 million dollars (£114.8 million), slightly up from 146.5 million dollars in the first half of 2023.

Shares finished 4.11% higher at 2,532p.

Elsewhere, mixer maker Fever-Tree made gains after brokers at Deutsche Bank said the business was “well positioned to capitalise” in the market for premium drink in the longer-term despite cutting their target for the stock. Shares moved up 1.96% at 912.5p.

The price of oil meanwhile remained low as ongoing energy demand concerns continued to impact trading.

A barrel of Brent crude oil was down by 0.18% to 78.15 US dollars (£60.20) as markets were closing in London.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Barratt Developments, up 18.2p to 554p, Glencore, up 11.35p to 415.2p, Endeavour Mining, up 41p to 1631p, Fresnillo, up 13.5p to 545.5p, and Burberry, up 16p to 702.6p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Hikma Pharmaceuticals, down 32p at 2,038p, Spirax Group, down 75p at 7,495p, Admiral Group, down 27p at 2,933p,BAE Systems, down 11p at 1,339p, and Rentokil, down 3.5p at 483p.