Market update: US house sales fail to excite the FTSE

The Footsie made only marginal gains yesterday after a disappointing US house sales report cast doubt over the strength of the recovery in the world’s biggest economy.

David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index, said: “The main piece of economic data from the US has added to the gloom emanating from China and naturally, the eurozone, after purchases of new US homes failed to meet expectations and fell for a second month.”

The FTSE 100 index added 9.2 points to close at 5,854.9 after spending much of the day in the red, making for a fall of nearly 2 per cent over the week.

Banking stocks came under pressure after the Bank of England’s financial policy committee warned lenders had failed to build up adequate cash buffers to help them survive another financial crisis. However, the sector largely recovered its earlier falls. Royal Bank of Scotland was down 0.1p at 28p, while HSBC was off 5.1p at 558.3p.

Standard Chartered and Barclays reversed earlier declines to close up 2p at 1,599p and 4.9p higher at 244.5p respectively.

Miners also pulled back their earlier losses following a poor week for the sector. Antofagasta was up 31p at 1,172p and Kazakhmys rose 22.5p at 935.5p.

Meanwhile, drinks giant Diageo fell after it said the UK government’s initiative to bring in a minimum price for alcohol to clamp down on binge drinking was “misguided”. The stock was down 13.5p to 1,510p.

Aberdeen-based SeaEnergy, which owns a 25 per cent stake in Lansdowne Oil & Gas, added 1.2 per cent to end the day at 31.9p after the Lansdowne reported that flow rates from its recent Irish find were greater than expected. But Lansdowne surrendered early gains to end the day 1 per cent lower at 45.4p.

New York: Wall Street rose in light trading last night, boosted by rising energy and basic materials shares, and the S&P 500 continued to show resilience even as it posted its second negative week so far this year.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 34.59 points, or 0.27 per cent, to end at 13,080.73 while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 4.33 points, or 0.31 per cent, to finish at 1,397.11. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 4.60 points, or 0.15 per cent, to close at 3,067.92.