British stocks rise as house prices recover

The FTSE 100 was up 0.25%, recovering ground lost in Monday’s 0.3% decline

British stocks rose on Tuesday as house prices delivered a stronger monthly recovery.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.25%, recovering ground lost in Monday’s 0.3% decline as of 07:15 GMT.

Germany’s DAX declined 0.22% and France’s CAC 40 added 0.58%. Sterling inched lower to 0.07% to 1.3379.

UK house prices rose for the first time in four months in June, with the Lloyds House Price Index showing a 0.2% monthly gain, taking the average property price to £299,330 from £298,812 in May.

Annual growth edged up to 0.6% from 0.5%. Northern Ireland led the regions with annual growth of 7.4%, while London fell 1.1% year-on-year to £534,831.

Mortgage rates have eased from their recent highs, offering some encouragement to those considering a move, said Amanda Bryden, Head of Mortgages at Lloyds.

The outlook for house prices will depend largely on inflation continuing to ease and household confidence gradually improving, Bryden said.

In the Middle East, a tanker caught fire early Tuesday in the Strait of Hormuz after being struck by a projectile, the latest attack on commercial shipping through the waterway since the start of the Iran-U.S. war.

Brent crude gained 1.28% to $72.91 a barrel.

Gold futures shed 0.63% to $4,141.31 an ounce, while spot gold traded at $4,129.42, down 0.84%.

Shell raised its second-quarter integrated gas production guidance, though it expects output to be sharply lower than in the first quarter due to the shutdown of its Pearl GTL facility in Qatar following the Ras Laffan attack.

HSBC is pulling back from riskier private credit lending and will focus on lower-risk funds, the Financial Times reported, amid growing concerns over underwriting standards.