London midday: FTSE smidgen higher in quiet end to week

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were still just a smidgen higher by midday on Friday in what was set to be a quiet end to the week, with US markets due to close early for the Thanksgiving holiday. The FTSE 100 was up 0.1% at 9,699.67, as investors continued to weigh the impact of Wednesday's Budget.

Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, said: "The FTSE 100 looks set to end the week in decent fashion and US futures point to post-Thanksgiving gains when Wall Street opens for business.

"UK housebuilders remain in decent fettle after the Budget - which didn't contain any nasty surprises in terms of property taxes, bar the so-called 'mansion tax'.

"The exception to the sector's positivity is Berkeley which has greater exposure to the premium end of the market where the new supplementary council tax charges are more relevant.

"Gilt yields are modestly higher again but relatively stable after Wednesday's leak-induced volatility and when compared with the reaction to previous fiscal events in the UK. For now, the Budget has only registered as a mild tremor on the market Richter scale, much to the relief of the government.

"Asian markets were mixed but mainly kept afloat by continuing hopes of a pre-Christmas rate cut from the Federal Reserve, with investors increasingly pricing in a similar move from the Bank of England at its own meeting in December.

"Broker ratings changes don't always grab investors' attention but a double downgrade from analysts on Premier Inn owner Whitbread has sparked a big reaction. The share price has been shaken to its foundations by Bernstein making a handbrake turn from a positive to a negative view on the hotels group."

Investors were mulling the latest data from Zoopla, which showed that house prices across southern England edged lower in the four weeks to 23 November for the first time in 18 months in the run-up to the Budget.

Zoopla said market activity has cooled slightly since the summer as budget speculation encouraged many to "pause and reassess".

Prices in London dipped 0.1% on the year to £530,000.

Momentum remains strong elsewhere, it said, with prices rising as much as 3% in the North West and by 2-3% across northern England, Scotland and Wales amid steady demand.

Zoopla said speculation about potential new taxes on homes over £500,000 had a greater impact in the south, where more than a third of properties for sale fall into this bracket.

"This, combined with wider market trends, has nudged prices lower and expanded choice for buyers," it said. "The number of homes for sale in southern regions is now 8 to 15% higher than a year ago, helping to create a clear buyers' market. Although buying costs increased after the end of stamp duty reliefs in April 2025, mortgage rates have largely held steady."

Across the UK, house prices rose 1.3% on an annual basis to an average of £270,200.

Zoopla said: "After a long lead-in, the Budget bark was worse than its bite for the housing market. Homebuyers and sellers will welcome the end of the uncertainty that stalled housing market activity since the late summer.

"Our data shows the underlying demand to move home remains strong. With greater certainty, we expect a rebound in housing market activity that builds into the new year, with households who paused home moving decisions over recent months return with greater confidence.

"We expect the variance in price inflation between the South and the rest of the country to remain, and income growth is key to helping reset housing affordability and unlocking more home moves."

Elsewhere, the Lloyds business barometer for November showed that business confidence fell by eight points to 42%, with sentiment likely dented by uncertainty ahead of the Budget.

In equity markets, Weir Group and IMI shot up after BNPP Exane reinstated coverage of the stocks at 'outperform'.

Budget airline easyJet flew higher after an upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral' at Bernstein.

Mitchells & Butlers surged as it posted better-than-expected annual profits despite rising cost pressures, adding that like-for-like sales in the last two months had risen by 3.8% despite uncertainty ahead of the UK government's Budget.

The upbeat performance came as the company reported a jump in full-year pre-tax profits to £238m from £199m. Group LFL sales in the year to 27 September rose 4.3%.

On an adjusted basis, pre-tax profit came in at £246m, up from £211m a year earlier and beating expectations of £237.5m.

On the downside, Premier Inn owner Whitbread tumbled after Bernstein slashed its price target on the shares.

Burberry was knocked lower by a downgrade to 'underweight' from 'neutral' at JPMorgan, which said consensus might be too optimistic on the improvements expected at the luxury fashion brand for next year and beyond.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 9,699.67 0.06% FTSE 250 (MCX) 22,099.29 0.04% techMARK (TASX) 5,553.04 -0.20%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Weir Group (WEIR) 2,802.00p 1.97% Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 4,932.00p 1.36% IMI (IMI) 2,426.00p 1.25% easyJet (EZJ) 489.90p 1.01% Rentokil Initial (RTO) 417.90p 0.97% Smurfit Westrock (DI) (SWR) 2,703.00p 0.93% Smiths Group (SMIN) 2,458.00p 0.82% Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,067.00p 0.80% Informa (INF) 954.40p 0.80% BP (BP.) 450.25p 0.73%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Whitbread (WTB) 2,690.00p -4.34% Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,144.00p -2.51% Games Workshop Group (GAW) 19,240.00p -1.54% Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,129.00p -1.40% Halma (HLMA) 3,540.00p -0.84% 3i Group (III) 3,172.00p -0.75% Beazley (BEZ) 797.00p -0.75% Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,758.00p -0.74% SSE (SSE) 2,186.00p -0.73% SEGRO (SGRO) 711.80p -0.73%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 285.00p 11.33% Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) 380.80p 8.74% PayPoint (PAY) 496.00p 4.09% Hochschild Mining (HOC) 395.60p 3.94% AEP Plantations (AEP) 1,415.00p 2.91% Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 141.70p 2.02% Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,981.00p 1.90% Playtech (PTEC) 283.50p 1.80% Wickes Group (WIX) 235.50p 1.51% Renishaw (RSW) 3,460.00p 1.47%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Ithaca Energy (ITH) 177.10p -1.94% Paragon Banking Group (PAG) 846.50p -1.57% Partners Group Private Equity Limited. (EUR) (PEY) 10.05p -1.47% Workspace Group (WKP) 381.00p -1.30% Harbour Energy (HBR) 205.80p -1.25% Foresight Solar Fund Limited (FSFL) 65.00p -1.22% OSB Group (OSB) 576.50p -1.20% Ninety One (N91) 215.20p -1.19% Carnival (CCL) 1,819.00p -1.11% Avon Technologies (AVON) 1,832.00p -1.08%