Good morning from London where the FTSE 100 is steady at pretty much the same level as it has since last Thursday at around 7,425 points.
Things are happening though – Direct Line reports that price hikes have helped it more than double its income from motor premiums, though damage from the recent storm Ciaran is within annual assumptions, apparently.
Housebuilder Persimmon also with an upbeat update, saying today its a strong upturn in sales since October. Private sales rates have improved to 0.59 a week, compared to 0.45 last year. And on the subject of housing, average prices rose in October for the first time in six months, according to mortgage lender Halifax, but remain down on last year. The average home now costs just shy of £282,000.
Primark owner AB Foods paid out a bumper dividend as annual profits jumped by a quarter to £1.3 billion. Food ingredients and grocery led the way with Primark faring less well.
And in small caps, gold miner Anglo Asian Mining PLC (AIM:AAZ, OTC:AGXKF) shares jumped 30% in early trading as the Azerbaijani government said it could resume operations after agreeing to change is tailings dam procedures.
