British Land adds 10 percent on assets sale

European equities markets saw gains again on Monday.

In London, the FTSE 100 was up 0.37 percent to 4,307.61 while the FTSE 250 added 1.49 percent.

British Land (LSE: BLND) was up 10.23 percent on the 100, with its gains coming after it sold a stake in a shopping center to raise cash, and Barratt Developments (LSE: BDEV) added 10.87 percent on the 250 as the real estate sector made substantial gains on the session.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.45 percent to 830.08 while the CAC-40 added 0.39 percent to 3,134.87, the IBEX was 0.47 percent higher and the Dax gained 0.48 percent.

Most markets in the Asia-Pacific region were higher but the Straits Times index dropped 1.92 percent in Singapore, South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.63 percent to 1,202.69 and the Tokyo markets were lower.

The Nikkei 225 fell 1.33 percent to 7,969.03 while the Topix index was down 1.51 percent and the Mothers market dropped 3.78 percent on the sesison.

The Taiex was up 0.52 percent to 4,494.59 and the Hang Seng added 0.84 percent to 13,769.06, while in Australia the Sydney Ordinaries and the S&P/ASX200 each gained 1.12 percent to 3,445.8 and 3,508.6 respectively.

The Shanghai Composite was 1.99 percent higher to 2,224.71 while India’s Sensex added 3.04 percent to 9.583.89.

In early afternoon trade on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.44 percent to 8,244.27 while the Nasdaq Composite had fallen 0.32 percent to 1,586.55 and the S&P 500 was 0.19 percent lower to 866.93.

The price for West Texas Intermediate crude dropped at the close of trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange but Brent crude was higher in London.

Metals prices also fell, but grains prices were higher on the Chicago Board of Trade.

The pound strengthened on good news from Barclays Bank and in anticipation of a quarterly report from the Bank of England which is expected to show that consumer price inflation accelerated in the previous quarter.

Discuss this in the Finance Markets forums

Story link: British Land adds 10 percent on assets sale