UK stocks saw an uptick on Friday, buoyed by data indicating that house prices in the country had risen for the first time in over a year in February. According to Nationwide Building Society, the house prices recorded a year-on-year growth of 1.2 percent, compared to a 0.2 percent decline in January. This is being attributed to decreasing borrowing costs, leading to a recovery in the housing market.
The benchmark FTSE 100 grew by 55 points (or 0.7 percent), marking 7,685 points. This follows a negligible growth witnessed the day before.
Shares of homebuilder firms like Barratt Developments and Taylor Wimpey rose by 1.2 percent and 1.1 percent respectively. In addition, Tritax Big Box, a real estate group focused on logistics, saw its shares rise by 1.7 percent after reporting robust profit growth in 2023.
On the downside, Property portal Rightmove's stocks fell by 4.3 percent following a 7-9 percent revenue growth forecast for 2024.
Media company ITV experienced a substantial 14 percent surge in its shares. The growth comes after the announcement of the sale of their entire 50 percent stake in digital subscription streaming service BritBox International. They sold their share to BBC Studios, a partner in the joint venture, for a sum of 255 million pounds to be paid in cash.
