London jumps and falls on opening

London opened strongly this morning – following gains in New York and Asia – before falling again as dealers digested results.

The FTSE 100 stood at 6237.50 at 8:56 BST.

Research from chartered surveyors showing widespread house price falls hit property firms, including Barratt Developments and Redrow, in early trading.

Redrow also announced a sharp rise in cancellations since Easter, putting pressure on sales, while builder Galliford Try said annual profits would be below expectations.

However, the largest loser inn the first hour of trading was Alliance & Leicester after it announced a £192 million write-down and said core operating profits were stable.

At 8:48 BST Alliance & Leicester share price was down five per cent to 484.75p – compared with a yearly high of 1197p.

Strongest gains were seen for TUI Travel which reported an underlying loss of £294 million – compared with £339 million a year ago.

The firm said the loss had been cut by strong performance in the UK, Scandinavia and France. Its share price was up 3.6 per cent to 268.50 at 8:54 BST.

In New York the Nasdaq and Dow Jones were up 1.76 per cent and 1.02 per cent, while both the Nikkei and Hang Seng in Asia were up 1.53 per cent and 1.95 per cent.

Daniel Barnes