London's FTSE 100 moved higher for a third day in a row on Thursday, gaining 24 points early on.
Housebuilders led the early risers following news overnight from Zoopla that agreed house sales had jumped by a quarter in September as lower mortgage rates fed through.
Tesco was among the few reporting on a slow day on the company front, with shares rising as the supermarket increased guidance and its interim dividend on further market share gains.
National Grid said it expected to earn an additional £70 million from its sale of the UK’s electricity system operator to the government last month in the meantime.
And finally, the pound hit a two-week low as Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey said policymakers could become “more aggressive” on rate cuts if inflation continued to ease.