Stock prices in London were mixed on Tuesday morning, after Halifax data showed a surprise monthly dip in average UK house prices; meanwhile Shell was up after a third quarter update.
The average UK house price was £298,184 in September, down 0.3% from August but up 1.3% from September 2024. FXStreet-cited consensus expected a 0.2% on-month increase and a 2.2% rise annually.
‘This slight monthly dip in house prices reflects a housing market that has remained broadly stable,’ commented Halifax Head of Mortgages Amanda Bryden, who noted that September’s annual house price growth was the slowest since April 2024.
FTSE 100 housebuilders Barratt Redrow, Berkeley Group and Persimmon were all down 0.6% on Tuesday morning.
The FTSE 100 index opened up 10.04 points, 0.1%, at 9,489.18. The FTSE 250 was down 36.24 points, 0.2%, at 22,063.50, and the AIM All-Share was up 4.16 points, 0.5%, at 799.79.
The Cboe UK 100 was marginally up at 948.36, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.3% at 19,284.37, and the Cboe Small Companies was down 0.1% at 18,002.17.
Shell rose 1.5%.
The London-based oil and gas company said trading and optimisation results in its Integrated Gas segment are expected to be ‘significantly higher’ compared to the second quarter, with LNG liquefaction volumes rising to 7.0 million to 7.4 million tonnes.
In its Upstream division, Shell estimates that production rose to between 1.8 million and 1.9 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in the third quarter from 1.7 million in the second quarter.
Shell expects a Corporate adjusted loss between $500 million and $300 million in the third quarter, against a $500 million loss in the second quarter.
In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 1.29 points, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 0.35 points.
The pound was quoted lower at $1.3435 early on Tuesday in London, compared to $1.3471 at the equities close on Monday. The euro stood lower at $1.1706, against $1.1682. Against the yen, the dollar was trading higher at JP¥150.54 compared to JP¥150.07.
In Asia on Tuesday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was up marginally. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.5%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 0.3%. Financial markets in Hong Kong were closed.
In the US on Monday, Wall Street ended mostly higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 63.31 points, 0.1%, the S&P 500 up 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.7%.
‘Forget about the US government shutdown, the French political chaos, or the new Japanese PM whom many are comparing to Margaret Thatcher and Shinzo Abe,’ Swissquote’s Ipek Ozkardeskaya commented. ‘One big piece of news from OpenAI yesterday overtook all headlines and dominated market action: the company signed a blockbuster deal with [Advanced Micro Devices] yes, Nvidia’s rival in the AI chip business to deploy 6 gigawatts’ worth of AMD graphics processing units over multiple years.’
She continued: ‘Clearly, OpenAI believes the AI pie will be big enough to feed everyone. For AI and tech investors, that’s optimism-boosting news a signal countering fears that AI revenues might fall short of the massive investments currently being made.
‘As a result, the S&P 500 consolidated near an all-time high yesterday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq pushed to a fresh record.’
Advanced Micro Devices closed 24% higher on Monday, and rose 1.5% after hours, in New York. Nvidia closed down 1.1% but rose 0.1% after hours.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted unchanged at 4.16%. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted unchanged at 4.76%.
Brent oil was quoted lower at $65.40 a barrel early in London on Tuesday from $65.43 late Monday.
Gold was quoted lower at $3,951.92 an ounce against $3,957.68.
Still to come on Tuesday’s economic calendar are the US Redbook index and consumer inflation expectations.
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