Housebuilders led the falls in London trading at the start of the week, as traders watched the pound plummet and arguments were weighed for an emergency interest rate rise following last week’s mini-Budget.
The FTSE 100 ended the day having edged ahead by just two points at 7,020. The FTSE 250 shed roughly 250 points to close down 1.4% at 17,722.
The FTSE 100 fallers were led by Taylor Wimpey, down by 7.09% to 95.84p a share. The housebuilder was followed by Persimmon, Barratt Developments and Berkeley Group Holdings, with SEGRO next, posting a 4.06% fall, and Landsec down by 4.03%.
In the FTSE 250 the sharpest share price drops came from Bellway (-8.08%), Vistry (-7.83%) and Redrow (-7.72%).
The Bank of England said this afternoon that it is “monitoring developments in financial markets very closely in light of the significant repricing of financial assets”.
It added: “The role of monetary policy is to ensure that demand does not get ahead of supply in a way that leads to more inflation over the medium term. As the MPC has made clear, it will make a full assessment at its next scheduled meeting of the impact on demand and inflation from the government’s announcements, and the fall in sterling, and act accordingly.
“The MPC will not hesitate to change interest rates by as much as needed to return inflation to the 2% target sustainably in the medium term, in line with its remit.”
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