BUSINESS CLOSE: FTSE 100 rebounds; House prices grow at fastest rate since 2007; Aston Martin shares bounce; Shell rewards investors
The FTSE 100 has closed up 0.5 per cent at 7,485.3, after struggling for direction for most of the day, and having fallen by almost 1 per cent yesterday.
The more UK-focused FTSE 250 ended down 0.3 per cent at 23,353.25.
House prices were 9.8 per cent higher in December than a year earlier, marking the sharpest annual increase since July 2007, monthly figures from mortgage lender Halifax show.
British car giant Aston Martin Lagonda successfully achieved its target to sell around 6,000 vehicles to wholesalers in 2021.
The sports car manufacturer revealed its wholesale sales jumped by 82 per cent to 6,182 last year, including slightly over 3,000 units of its DBX model to take a 20 per cent share of the luxury SUV market.
Shell said it would go ahead with its plan to return $5.5billion to shareholders through share buybacks after the sale of its US shale business.
It also expects profits at its gas trading division to be ‘significantly higher’ in the last quarter of 2021 as it cashes in on rising prices.
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UK house prices saw their sharpest annual increase since July 2007 last year