(Sharecast News) - London stocks outperformed their peers from on Continent on Tuesday, underpinned by optimism over Sino-US trade talks and strength in the housebuilding sector, even as investors mulled the latest UK jobs and retail sales data.
The FTSE 100 ended up 0.24% at 8,853.08, whilst the second-tier index added 0,49% to 21,389.46.
Helping sentiment, US Commerce Secretary reportedly said that trade talks in London, between the US and China, were "going well".
Worth noting, US President, Donald Trump, was scheduled to deliver a speech at 2100 BST.
Investors were also waiting on a key US consumer price report due out the next day.
Elsewhere on the macro front, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that the unemployment rate rose to 4.6% in the three months to April from 4.5% in January to March, marking the highest level since summer 2021.
Growth in average weekly earnings excluding bonuses fell to 5.2% from 5.6%, prompting hopes of further rate cuts from the Bank of England.
Employment data also showed that the early estimate of payrolled employees for May fell by 109,000 on the month and by 274,000 on the year to 30.2m.
The estimated number of vacancies fell by 63,000 on the quarter, to 736,000 in March to May 2025. The ONS said this was the 35th consecutive quarterly decline, with quarterly falls seen in 14 out of the 18 industry sectors.
Investors were also mulling the latest figures from the British Retail Consortium, which showed that weak discretionary spending held back UK retail sales in May, with year-on-year growth slowing dramatically to the lowest level so far this year.
In equity markets, Bellway rallied as it said trading had been "robust" through the spring selling season and lifted its full-year outlook for completion volumes and average prices.
Other housebuilders followed suit, with Persimmon, Barratt Redrow, Taylor Wimpey, Berkeley, Vistry and Crest Nicholson all up.
Marks & Spencer was higher as it said it was starting to take some online orders again six weeks after it was rocked by a major cyber attack.
Rolls-Royce rose as it was selected to build small modular nuclear reactors in the UK, after a competition run by the government to reduce Britain's reliance on fossil fuels.
FirstGroup racked up strong gains as the train and bus operator announced a new 50m buyback and said the outlook for the current year remains in line with expectations, though rail results will be lower due to South Western Railway (SWR) transferring into public ownership.
Aberdeen was a high riser after JPMorgan upgraded the stock to 'overweight' and placed it on 'positive catalyst watch'.
On the downside, Hochschild Mining tumbled as it said it expects a "significant reduction" to output guidance at its Mara Rosa gold mine in Brazil due to a processing shutdown caused by heavier-than-usual seasonal rainfall over the past few months and "contractor performance issues".
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,853.08 0.24%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,389.46 0.49%
techMARK (TASX) 5,047.80 -0.38%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Persimmon (PSN) 1,380.00p 5.95%
Barratt Redrow (BTRW) 475.30p 5.62%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 121.70p 4.60%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 373.40p 3.78%
Shell (SHEL) 2,595.50p 3.61%
BP (BP.) 373.80p 3.20%
SEGRO (SGRO) 705.00p 3.07%
Croda International (CRDA) 3,152.00p 2.24%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 808.00p 1.97%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,266.00p 1.86%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,156.50p -2.88%
Barclays (BARC) 323.35p -2.74%
Next (NXT) 12,495.00p -2.69%
BAE Systems (BA.) 1,872.00p -2.63%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,340.00p -2.47%
NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 513.80p -2.43%
3i Group (III) 4,253.00p -1.87%
Beazley (BEZ) 946.00p -1.87%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 174.90p -1.80%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 75.68p -1.69%
FTSE 250 - Risers
FirstGroup (FGP) 217.20p 12.07%
Vistry Group (VTY) 654.00p 9.40%
Bellway (BWY) 2,884.00p 7.85%
Close Brothers Group (CBG) 360.00p 7.46%
Safestore Holdings (SAFE) 667.00p 6.89%
Abrdn (ABDN) 195.70p 6.36%
ITV (ITV) 80.85p 5.96%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 87.20p 5.95%
SDCL Efficiency Income Trust (SEIT) 47.60p 4.85%
Dr. Martens (DOCS) 81.05p 4.65%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 232.20p -22.91%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 513.00p -6.73%
Just Group (JUST) 144.60p -4.99%
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 265.70p -4.08%
Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 3,372.00p -2.99%
Lion Finance Group (BGEO) 6,740.00p -2.95%
Senior (SNR) 168.80p -2.65%
Chemring Group (CHG) 562.00p -2.60%
Renishaw (RSW) 2,735.00p -2.51%
Endeavour Mining (EDV) 2,222.00p -2.37%
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