The FTSE 100 slipped lower on Friday despite data indicating that the housing market is showing signs of improvement.
Halifax’s house price index saw the value of houses rise by 1.5% in May, outperforming analysts’ expectations for a 1.2% jump. It marks the sixth consecutive rise in the index. The average UK house price now stands at £288,688.
Meanwhile, housebuilder Bellway also said spring trading was strong, with improved affordability leading to higher reservation rates compared with the first half of its financial year. Matching prior guidance, the FTSE 250 firm is on track to deliver around 7,500 homes this year with an average selling price of around £305,000, up from the previous guidance of £295,000.
Over in the US, British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch was cleared of fraud overnight, having been accused of his involvement in the US$11 billion sale of his software firm Autonomy to Hewlett Packard.
Lynch had denied inflating the value of Autonomy and a San Francisco jury agreed, finding him not guilty on all accounts, and sparing him a potential 20-year prison sentence.