Sector movers: Construction, insurers lead London market higher
As fears over the Greek debt crisis and China’s equities sell-off eased, housebuilders and life insurance stocks kept the London market in positive territory on Friday.
Abrdn
136.20p
16:40 19/04/24
Barratt Developments
441.50p
16:34 19/04/24
FTSE 100
7,895.85
16:59 19/04/24
FTSE 250
19,391.30
17:09 19/04/24
FTSE 350
4,341.08
17:09 19/04/24
FTSE All-Share
4,296.41
17:08 19/04/24
Household Goods & Home Construction
12,287.29
17:10 19/04/24
Life Insurance
5,741.37
17:09 19/04/24
Persimmon
1,286.00p
16:35 19/04/24
Prudential
722.00p
17:15 19/04/24
Taylor Wimpey
130.75p
17:03 19/04/24
The blue chip FTSE 100 closed up 1.39% or 91.75 points at 6673.38, with construction, housebuilders and insurance stocks leading the way.
Housebuilders rose on news of Chancellor George Osborne’s UK planning reforms that will speed up building works. Osborne announced changes that will give market participants automatic planning permission on all brownfield sites, and made it easier for people to build extensions.
Furthermore, town halls that take too long to process applications will face fines and central government will have more power to intervene on planning rulings.
In London, homeowners will no longer need planning permission for a roof extension if it’s the same height as a neighbouring property.
Barratt Developments (up 1.77%), Persimmon (up 1.74%) and Taylor Wimpey (up 2.33%), were all trading higher, as the sector index ended the last trading session of the week 2.54% higher.
Life Insurance sector index was next in line on the leading sector’s table rising 2.48% on the day, after Prudential (up 2.36%) and Standard Life (up 4.22%) were boosted by a Barclays note.
The bank increased Prudential’s target to 1,889p from 1,877p, pointing to the company’s earnings on 11 August, which will be chief executive Mike Wells’ first chance to set out his view on the strategic direction of the company and what can be expected under his leadership.
“We expect the earnings themselves to be strong, as Prudential is benefiting from forex tailwinds in the US and in Asia, which should add around 3% to earnings,” it said.
Barclays, which rates the stock at ‘overweight’, said it sees Prudential continuing to grow earnings at 12% compound annual growth rate and cash remittance at 15% CAGR over the next five years, buoyed by Asian growth and an increasingly cash-generative US business.
“At 14 times our 2015 earnings per share estimate, we see Prudential as offering strong, quality growth at a very reasonable price.”
The bank raised Standard Life’s target to 546p from 520p, saying it expects the company’s results on 4 August to show a solid set of earnings, boosted by continued strong inflows of its flagship fund, GARS.
The feel good factor transferred over to the wider sector with rivals St James’s Place (up 3.82%), Legal & General (up 2.49%), Old Mutual (up 2.34%) and Aviva (up 1.65%) all notching up significant gains.
Financial services sector index (up 2.46%) also ended the week in positive territory, with Brewin Dolphin (up 6.34%), ICAP (up 3.69%), Schroders (up 3.47%), Aberdeen Asset Management (up 3.43%), Jupiter (up 3.43%), London Stock Exchange Group (up 3.41%) and Man Group (up 2.97%) leading the way.