Thanks for joining me. Britain’s largest housebuilders has revealed the slump in profitability and house completions as consumers are squeezed by rising interest rates.
Barratt Developments revealed a 16.2pc fall in its adjusted annual pre-tax profits to £884.3m amid the fall in mortgage affordability.
5 things to start your day
1) Saturday post ‘under review’ as struggling Royal Mail looks to cut costs | Company claims its current obligations are ‘outdated and in need of urgent reform’
2) British chipmaker Arm to cut valuation ahead of US listing | Microchip designer faces questions over growth since filing to go public two weeks ago
3) Shoplifting no longer seen as a crime, says Asda chairman | Lord Stuart Rose joins calls demanding police do more to tackle wave of thefts
4) Reward savers and boost the economy with ‘Great British Isa’, says top fund manager | Mike O’Shea urges policymakers to create a tax-free vehicle to increase UK investment
5) Facebook scraps $1.6bn funding scheme as Sir Nick Clegg project fails | Company shifts focus to short-form video as it faces stiff competition from TikTok
What happened overnight
Shares were mostly lower in Asia after a decline on Wall Street as traders returned from a long holiday weekend.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index advanced but most other regional markets fell.
Crude oil prices pushed higher after the fresh supply cut announced by Saudi Arabia and Russia, adding to inflationary pressures at a time when investors are hoping to see central banks back away from interest rate hikes.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.5pc to 33,208.26. In Seoul, the Kospi declined 0.6pc to 2,567.12.
The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia slipped 0.8pc to 7,257.70 as the government reported the economy grew at a 2.3pc annual pace in the last quarter. In quarterly terms, it expanded a modest 0.2pc. The figures were better than expected.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index sank 0.8pc to 18,306.24, extending losses as the market eases back from gains fueled by recent stimulus measures for the ailing Chinese property market.
The Shanghai Composite index shed 0.3pc to 3,143.62. India’s Sensex edged 0.1pc lower.
Stocks closed lower on Wall Street as traders returned from a long holiday weekend.
The S&P 500 fell 0.4pc to 4,496.83. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.6pc to 34,641.97. The Nasdaq composite dipped 0.1pc to 14,020.95.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences interest rates on mortgages and other loans, rose to 4.27pc from 4.18pc late Friday.
