London's FTSE 100 rallied on Thursday morning, aided by gains among housebuilders after a surprise positive reading from an industry survey.
Thursday’s RICS house price balance survey showed a positive reading for the first time since October 2022 in August, meaning a majority in the industry were seeing increases.
Elsewhere, FTSE 250-listed Trainline soared early on as results came in better than expected over the first half despite train strikes, leading to upgraded guidance.
Fevertree slumped in the meantime, as poor weather in Britain was said to have weighed on first-half sales, prompting revenue guidance to be lowered.
And finally, John Lewis Partnership reported losses had been almost cut in half over the first half of the year, aided by improving sales at Waitrose and plans to claw back customers.