London open: Stocks gain; Blackstone strikes deal for Hipgnosis

(Sharecast News) - London stocks rose in early trade on Monday following another record high at the end of last week. At 0845 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.5% at 8,176.75.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Sentiment is upbeat at the start of the week, fuelled by relief that inflationary pressures in the US aren't as bad as feared, and hopes return that a ceasefire could be negotiated in the Middle East. The FTSE 100 has scaled fresh heights, with another sprint higher in early trade.

"All eyes will be on the Fed meeting starting on Tuesday and comments from Governor Jerome Powell on Wednesday about how long we will need to wait for interest rate cuts to come. The US central bank is set to stay in its holding pattern and maintain high borrowing costs until September, but there's still a chance that it may hang on even longer."

On home shores, the latest data from Halifax showed that house prices jumped by nearly 2% over the last year, industry data, driven by demand for smaller homes.

Annual property price growth reached 1.9% in February, to £282,430, a notable recovery from October's low of -4.1%.

However, Halifax said that within that, price growth for different property types varied significantly.

Prices of flats and terraced houses jumped 2.7% and 2.6% respectively, but semi-detached properties increased by 1.7%.

Amanda Bryden, head of Halifax Mortgages, said: "It is important not to gloss over the challenges facing the UK housing market, given the impact of higher interest rates on mortgage affordability, coupled with a continued lack of supply of new homes.

"But scratch beneath the surface and there is a more nuanced story, one which shows that demand for different property types in different parts of the country can vary hugely.

"One way to compensate for higher borrowing costs is to target smaller properties. This is especially true among first-time buyers...who now account for the largest proportion of homes purchased with a mortgage in almost 30 years.

"We see this reflected in property prices for the first few months of this year, with the value of flats rising most sharply, closing the growth gap on bigger properties that's existed for most of the last four years."

In equity markets, Anglo American gained following a Reuters report suggesting that BHP Group is considering making an improved offer for the miner after its initial proposal was rejected.

Mike Ashley's Frasers Group rallied as it announced the start of a new £80m share buyback.

Hipgnosis rose as the music rights owner said it agreed terms on a £1.2bn takeover by private equity investor Blackstone, in the latest tit-for-tat battle with rival Concord.

Blackstone upped its offer to $1.30 a share in cash, or 104 pence a share, beating Concord's latest offer of $1.25 a share.

Insurance group Beazley was little changed as it said first-quarter results were in line with guidance with insurance written premiums (IWP) growing at high single digits.

On the downside, JD Sports fell as Barclays downgraded the shares to 'equalweight' from 'overweight' and cut the price target to 140p from 165p after the retailer announced the acquisition of US rival Hibbett last week for $1.1bn.

Petrofac tumbled as it announced a delay to the publication of its full-year results and said it may have to convert a significant proportion of its existing debt to equity.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,176.75 0.45% FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,846.90 0.11% techMARK (TASX) 4,560.73 0.23%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Prudential (PRU) 744.60p 2.87% Frasers Group (FRAS) 815.50p 2.45% Anglo American (AAL) 2,691.50p 1.84% Smurfit Kappa Group (CDI) (SKG) 3,482.00p 1.58% Tesco (TSCO) 293.10p 1.45% British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,358.00p 1.38% Imperial Brands (IMB) 1,835.50p 1.32% Smith (DS) (SMDS) 344.20p 1.24% AstraZeneca (AZN) 12,136.00p 1.23% Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 264.60p 1.22%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 117.35p -2.33% NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 302.90p -1.46% Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 14,750.00p -1.24% Persimmon (PSN) 1,305.00p -0.99% Ashtead Group (AHT) 6,050.00p -0.88% easyJet (EZJ) 534.20p -0.74% Beazley (BEZ) 634.00p -0.63% Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 419.20p -0.45% InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 8,002.00p -0.40% Centrica (CNA) 133.25p -0.34%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Helios Towers (HTWS) 98.40p 4.35% Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 155.90p 2.63% Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 230.50p 2.44% Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited NPV (SONG) 106.20p 2.31% Shaftesbury Capital (SHC) 138.00p 2.22% Playtech (PTEC) 460.00p 2.11% Wood Group (John) (WG.) 150.00p 2.04% Hammerson (HMSO) 27.52p 2.00% Just Group (JUST) 105.00p 1.94% Elementis (ELM) 139.80p 1.90%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Me Group International (MEGP) 158.20p -2.83% JTC (JTC) 822.00p -2.38% Softcat (SCT) 1,539.00p -2.35% Dr. Martens (DOCS) 71.00p -2.34% Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 74.70p -2.10% Great Portland Estates (GPE) 382.50p -2.05% Currys (CURY) 60.50p -2.02% Victrex plc (VCT) 1,222.00p -1.93% Impax Environmental Markets (IEM) 382.00p -1.67% Herald Investment Trust (HRI) 2,045.00p -1.45%