London pre-open: Stocks seen up; house prices rise again

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to rise at the open on Friday following a mostly positive close on Wall Street, as investors mulled the latest house price data and looked ahead to the manufacturing PMI. The FTSE 100 was called to open 35 points higher at 7,488.

A survey released earlier by Nationwide showed that house prices unexpectedly rose again in November.

House prices were up 0.2% on the month following a 0.9% increase in October. This was ahead of expectations for a 0.4% decline.

On the year, meanwhile, house prices were 2.2% lower in November following a 3.3% drop the month before.

Nationwide chief economist Robert Gardner said: "There has been a significant change in market expectations for the future path of Bank Rate in recent months which, if sustained, could provide much needed support for housing market activity."

He noted that in mid-August, investors were expecting the Bank of England to raise rates to a peak of around 6% and lower them only modestly, to around 4%, over the next five years.

However, by the end of November, this had shifted to a view that rates have now peaked at 5.25% and will be lowered to around 3.5% in the years ahead.

"These shifts are important as they have led to a decline in the longer-term interest rates (swap rates) that underpin fixed rate mortgage pricing," he said. "If sustained, this will help to ease the affordability pressures that have been stifling housing market activity in recent quarters, where the number of mortgage approvals for house purchases has been running at c.30% below pre-pandemic levels."

Still to come, the S&P Global/CIPS manufacturing PMI for November is due at 0930 GMT.

In corporate news, Rentokil Initial said it has appointed Brad Paulsen as the new chief executive officer of its North America region. It said Paulsen will bring extensive leadership experience, having previously served as CEO of electrical distributor Rexel USA and in key roles at HD Supply and the Home Depot.

Additionally, the company welcomed Will Lin as vice president of performance and digital marketing for North America. It said he has a strong background in digital marketing and data analytics from companies like Simplilearn, Rent.com, Vrbo, Microsoft, and Hewlett-Packard.