Friday Lunchtime Market: Housebuilders hit FTSE, but NY offers promise

A squeeze in the mortgage market dragged housebuilders down on Friday despite the prospect of Wall Street opening higher.

The FTSE 100 index had shed 12.7 points to trade at 5,704.80 by 12.47pm. There was some good news from Enterprise Inns which made strong gains but housebuilders and property companies were more than wiping this out.

Housebuilder Persimmon was leading the FTSE down shedding 6.02% by 12.47pm to trade at 741p. The stock revealed little bad news of its own but yesterday's trading statement from  peer Bellway took its toll.

British Airways was the second worst faller in the FTSE  having shed 50 points to 739.5p. The cause of its problems were not hard to find with 24-hour news channels beaming stories of chaos at Heathrow's terminal five. The cancellations of flights from Heathrow would hit March traffic data according to the company.

In contrast mining stocks were all putting on strong numbers. Antofagasta followed only Enterprise Inns at the top of the blue-chip index adding 30p, some 4.87% to trade at 689.5p. Vedanta Resources, Anglo American, B HP Biliton and Rio Tinto also all made the top ten.

The rises among the miners could be partly attributable to Deutsche Bank upping its price targets for miners across the sector.

Though the FTSE  remained in gloomy form at lunchtime US futures were pointing to a higher opening for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 50. Yet the US markets clouds be affected almost as soon as trading opens by a report on personal income in the United States which will be viewed, in the current tense conditions, as an indication of weakening consumer spending.

The report also provides indicators of US inflation.