MARKET REPORT: Housebuilders on road to recovery as prices rise

Homebuilders made gains in hopes that the real estate market was on a path to recovery.

After seven consecutive falls, data from construction bank Nationwide showed UK house prices rose in April.

Prices rose by 0.5 percent last month, while analysts had expected a fall of 0.4 percent.

The real estate market took a hit last September after Liz Truss’ disastrous mini-budget, which sent mortgage rates skyrocketing.

But in a sign of continued recovery, average house prices rose 0.5 per cent to £260,441 between March and April. Although this was 2.7 percent lower than a year ago, analysts had predicted a decline of 3.6 percent.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, said the data showed “tentative signs of a recovery.”

Tomer Aboody, director of real estate lender MT Finance, said: ‘Buyers are finally making their move after months of waiting and delay. More transactions are certainly needed for the overall strength of the housing market.’

Persimmon was up 5.5 percent, or 72.5p, to 1386.5p, Berkeley Group added 1.3 percent, or 57p, to 4504p, Barratt Developments was up 1 percent, or 5.2p, to 505.2p and Taylor Wimpey gained 0.04 percent, or 0.05p, to 128.25p.

Among mid-cap stocks, Bellway rose 1.7 percent, or 42p, to 2454p, Vistry Group rose 1.5 percent, or 12p, to 794.5p, and Redrow jumped 1.7 percent, or 9p, to 526, 5p.

The London stock market got off to a slow start to the week in its first post-May bank holiday session, with the FTSE 100 falling 1.2 percent, or 97.54, to 7773.03 and the FTSE 250 falling 0.6 percent, or 110.91 points, dropped to 19314.23.

Education publisher Pearson fell 15 percent, or 133 pence, to 754 pence after his American colleague Chegg warned that rising student interest in ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence software, was hurting his business.

Chegg’s forecast of revenue in the second quarter to be between £141m and £143m fell short of the £156m expected by analysts.

Stock Watch – Longboat Energy

Shares in Longboat Energy skyrocketed more than 100 per cent after it struck a £120 million deal to partner with a Japanese oil and gas company.

The Norwegian North Sea explorer and producer, which is on the AIM list, is entering into a joint venture with Japex, which was founded in 1955, to drill up to three wells per year in Norway.

As part of the deal, Japex will invest £40 million in the partnership in return for a 49.9 per cent stake.

Shares rose 107.9 percent, or 10.25 pence, to 19.75 pence.

The boss of Ferrexpo is stepping down after a year in charge of the Ukrainian iron ore miner.

Jim North, who joined in November 2014 and became CEO in February last year, will leave at the end of June.

President Lucio Genovese will take over on an interim basis from July 1. Shares rose 2.8 percent, or 3 pence, to 111.1 pence.

Investors in banknote printer De La Rue will have to wait to find out who their chairman will be after it said it was in the final stages of the hiring process.

The group had hoped to replace Kevin Loosemore, who resigned last month under pressure from activist investor Crystal Amber, by yesterday or “as soon as possible thereafter.”

It appointed Nick Bray as interim chairman until a tenure is made. Shares rose 3.5 percent, or 1.45 pence, to 43.45 pence.

Superdry is in talks with investors to raise around £12 million by selling a fifth of its shares in a bid to strengthen its balance sheet.

The fashion retailer’s boss, Julian Dunkerton, will “participate significantly” in the sale. Shares fell 1.6 percent, or 1.4 pence, to 84.7 pence.

Digital products maker Made Tech fell 27.5 percent, or 7.5 pence, to 19.75 pence after it warned that revenues and profits for the year to May 31 would be lower than hoped.

The group said some customers had postponed the start date of work packages to the next fiscal year.

It expects to report revenue of around £40 million, less than the £43 million analysts had expected.

And a profit of at least £1.5m would be less than the £3.9m subscribed by the market.

Hostmore, owner of TGI Fridays, hired interim CEO Julie McEwan on a permanent basis and unveiled further cost-cutting measures to reduce debt. Shares rose 27.1 percent, or 3.8 pence, to 17.8 pence.