London pre-open: Stocks seen up as investors mull house price data

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to rise at the open on Monday following losses at the end of last week, as political uncertainty in France sent European markets tumbling. The FTSE 100 was called to open around 40 points higher.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said: "The week will be interesting for the UK. The latest British inflation numbers are due on Wednesday and the Bank of England (BoE) decision is due on Thursday.

"Inflation may have eased to the 2% in May in Britain, right to the BoE's policy target, but the BoE is not expected to cut rates before the July general election, and inflation is seen rebounding toward 2.5% in the second half, anyway. But a sufficiently soft inflation read and a sufficiently soft BoE statement could fuel the expectation of a cut in September - and one more in December, and encourage the sterling bears to push Cable into a medium term bearish consolidation zone, as well.

"The 1.2645 is the key Fibonacci support that should distinguish between the continuation of the actual positive trend and a bearish reversal."

Investors will be mulling the latest data from Nationwide, which showed house prices were largely unchanged in June following a bumper performance in May.

According to the latest house price index, house prices were flat in June, dipping just £21 from May's high to £375,110. Prices sparked 0.8% in May.

Year-on-year, prices rose 0.6% in June, unchanged on May's 0.6% annual increase.

The number of sales agreed was 6% higher year-on-year, while demand remained stable, up 5%.

May is traditionally a strong period for housing prices, with June weaker in comparison.

In a recent Rightmove poll of 14,000 people, a comfortable majority said the general election on 4 July would not affect plans to move house.

But in the two weeks since Rishi Sunak's surprise announcement, the number of top-end sellers coming to market was 3% lower than a year ago, Rightmove noted, versus being up 11% in the previous fortnight.

Tim Bannister, director of property science at Rightmove, said: "It's always difficult to predict how home-movers will react to sudden uncertainty, but...[in] previously election campaigns, market activity has remained largely steady.

"This election has followed a similar pattern so far.

"However, some potential sellers appear to be watching and waiting rather than taking action, evidence by the dip in the number of new sellers coming to market, particularly at the top end."

In corporate news, B&Q owner Kingfisher said it had appointed British Land chief financial officer Bhavesh Mistry to the same role at the home improvement company.

Mistry will succeed current CFO Bernard Bot, who has decided to retire to further pursue his non-executive career. He has been with British Land since 2021 and was Deputy CFO of Tesco from 2018 to 2021.

Bot's leaving date is to be confirmed but will be no earlier than January 2025, Kingfisher said.

Publishing, events and B2B consultancy group Ascential said that trading is in line with expectations for the full year, helped by strong growth in marketing and fintech operations.

The company, known for media titles like Retail Week and Drapers, along with events like Cannes Lions, said marketing revenues grew by more than 10% in the first half, helped by double-digit growth from Cannes Lions delegates and sponsorship.

Financial technologies revenues rose by a double-digit percentage, though sales in Europe are lower than last year, reflecting the broader funding conditions in the fintech end market observed in the second half 2023.