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* Homebuilders jump as house prices rise in June
* Barratt Developments gains on CFO appointment
* FTSE 100 up 0.2%, FTSE 250 ends flat
(Updates to close)
By Shashank Nayar and Amal S
June 29 (Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 ended higher on
Tuesday, led by mining and retail stocks, while rising cases of
a new COVID-19 variant in Europe and Asia stoked fears of a
slower economic recovery.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index edged 0.2% higher, with
miners including Glencore, Rio Tinto and BHP
providing the biggest boost to the index.
Homebuilders advanced 0.8% and were among the
top gainers after mortgage lender Nationwide said British house
prices rose by 13.4% in June compared with a year earlier, the
biggest annual increase since November 2004.
"The key issue is whether we're at the peak of the activity
as buyers rush to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday which
starts to taper from the start of July," Russ Mould, investment
director at AJ Bell, said.
The FTSE 100 has gained 0.9% so far this year, although new
coronavirus variant cases and inflation worries have kept the
index range-bound recently near its 7,000 level.
Rising cases of the Delta variant of COVID-19 benefited
online retail stocks including Just Eat Takeaway.com
and Ocado Group which rose 1.7% and 0.7% respectively.
"In terms of what it has done to the stock market, it hit
the airlines a little bit and benefited "stay at home" stocks,"
said Keith Temperton, equity sales trader at Forte Securities.
Global sentiment weakened, with most Asian stock markets
trading lower on concerns that new coronavirus outbreaks in the
region could undercut an economic recovery.
The domestically focussed mid-cap index ended flat.
Barratt Developments gained 0.4% after naming Mike
Scott as its chief financial officer. Scott is at present
finance chief at Countryside Properties.
UDG Healthcare inched 0.3% higher after it confirmed
that private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice had raised its
offer to buy the London-listed firm to 2.76 billion pounds
($3.83 billion).
(Reporting by Shashank Nayar and Amal S in Bengaluru; Editing
by Subhranshu Sahu and Alexander Smith)
