A decline in the shares of major housebuilders, following cautious analyst comments on the business, weighed on Britain’s top equity index on Friday.
The FTSE 100 index was down 0.4 percent at 6,545.26 points going into the close of the trading session. It rose 2.3 percent the day before as Tesco jumped on a well-received restructuring plan. The UK stock market regained some ground after data showed that U.S. job growth increased in December, but the FTSE remained in negative territory.
Traders attributed the fall in housebuilders to a cautious note from investment bank Jefferies. The bank said bad news on UK mortgage approvals, weak house prices and slower economic growth would weaken the shares in the first quarter of 2015. Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Developments and Persimmon – down from 5.2 to 6 percent – were the worst-performing FTSE 100 stocks in percentage terms.
“The UK housing market continues to slow, with tighter mortgage rules and affordability constraints as well as the prospect of a rate rise making investors cautious,” said Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets. The U.S. reported its unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage point to a 6 1/2-year low of 5.6 percent, but average hourly earnings fell 5 cents after rising 6 cents in November. That led some traders to expect the U.S. Federal Reserve would not raise interest rates until September.
“Wage anomalies aside, this is nevertheless a solid U.S employment figure that we can at least enjoy without worrying about an interest rate rise,” said MB Capital trading director Marcus Bullus. Securequity sales trader Jawaid Afsar said he would look to buy stocks on days when the market fell, in expectations of a gradual push higher on the FTSE 100.
