FTSE 100 Edges Higher In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - U.K. stocks edged up slightly on Friday ahead of the all-important U.S. jobs report due later in the day.

Meanwhile, U.K. house prices fell for the sixth straight month in September as higher interest rates weighed on mortgage affordability, survey data from the Lloyds Bank subsidiary Halifax and S&P Global showed.

House prices slid 0.4 percent on a monthly basis in September. This was the sixth straight month of decline but markedly slower than the 1.8 percent fall in August. Prices were forecast to decrease 0.8 percent.

On a yearly basis, house prices declined 4.7 percent in September after easing 4.5 percent in August.

The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 17 points, or 0.2 percent, at 7,468 after rising half a percent on Thursday.

GSK edged up slightly after the drug maker agreed to sell 270 million shares in its former consumer unit Haleon at a price of 328 pence per share, raising gross proceeds of around 885.6 million pounds. Shares of the latter were down 1 percent.

De La Rue plc, a provider of secure digital, physical, surety, and control solutions, jumped 4.5 percent after saying it expects adjusted operating profit for the first half to be slightly ahead of its prior view of breakeven.

Pub operator J D Wetherspoon tumbled 3.7 percent despite returning to annual profit for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic three years ago.

Aviva soared 9 percent. The Times newspaper reported that at least two potential suitors are looking for a possible takeover of the insurance company.

Metro Bank surged 6 percent on reports that it has begun talks to sell a £3bn chunk of its mortgage book.

Shell added 1 percent after the oil and gas major updated its integrated gas production forecast for the third-quarter of 2023.