Builders help top flight to gain ground

Housebuilder shares were lifted after Britain’s thirdlargest developer hiked its dividend and pledged to build more houses.

Taylor Wimpey shot to the top of the FTSE 100 after saying it would reduce the time it holds land for by a year, allowing it to accelerate sales.

The housebuilder also increased its ordinary dividend to at least £250 million a year from 2019, helping spark a 7.2p rise in the stock, which ended the day at 202.3p.

It also buoyed sentiment across the sector, sending Persimmon shares up by 51p to 2,817p, and Barratt Developments up 15p to 568.2p, making it the thirdbiggest riser on the FTSE 100.

In currency markets, the pound failed to make major gains on the back of UK employment data which showed the jobless rate coming in at 4.2%.

Against the US dollar the pound was down 0.34% at 1.350, but it rose 0.2% versus the euro to 1.138.

Falls in sterling supported the rise of the FTSE 100, which climbed 12 points or 0.16% to 7,722.98 points.

The German Dax edged into the red, falling 0.06%, while the French CAC 40 rose 0.23%.

In oil markets, Brent crude prices rose 0.24% to $78.65 on fears of a disruption in supply due to Middle East tensions.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Vodafone down 8.82p to 198.38p, Fresnillo down 43.5p to 1,243p, Mediclinic International down 19.8p to 684.8p and Paddy Power Betfair down 215p to 7,760p.