In cautious trading on Friday morning, UK stocks have edged lower, following their rise to record highs in the previous session. Investors are keeping a watchful eye on the upcoming U.S. non-farm payroll data for insights into the Federal Reserve's potential decisions regarding interest rates.
The FTSE 100 index has dropped by 26.72 points, or 0.31%, standing at 8700.56.
Among the gainers, Legal & General's shares have surged nearly 5.5% after the life insurer announced its decision to sell its U.S. protection business to Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company for $2.3 billion. Other stocks showing an upward trend include Hiscox, which is up 1.85%, along with Glencore, BP, Vodafone, LondonMetric Property, and BAE Systems, with increases ranging from 0.9% to 1.25%.
Meanwhile, Endeavour Mining, Coca-Cola HBC, DCC, Compass Group, Anglo American Plc, IAG, Kingfisher, and British American Tobacco have seen modest gains.
Conversely, Barratt Redrow is experiencing a decline of more than 3.5%, Marks & Spencer is down by 3%, and Mondi has decreased approximately 2.7%. Stocks such as Taylor Wimpey, ICP, Persimmon, Howden Joinery, GSK, Auto Trader Group, Entain, Berkeley Group Holdings, AstraZeneca, and Diploma have fallen between 1.5% and 2.3%. Barclays Group and Next are also showing significant declines.
On the housing front, according to mortgage lender Halifax, UK house prices rose more than anticipated in January, reaching a record high. This increase is attributed to heightened buyer demand preceding an upcoming stamp duty hike in April. House prices climbed by 0.7% from December, rebounding from a 0.2% decline the previous month and exceeding economists' expectations of a 0.4% rise.
Annually, the growth in house prices has softened to 3% from December's 3.4%, marking the slowest growth since last July. In January, average property prices reached a record GBP 299,138.
