FTSE indexes close higher as housing stocks shine

Aug 25 (Reuters) – The main UK stock indexes closed higher on Tuesday, as housing stocks were lifted by the British government’s plans to spend £10 billion on lower-cost housing, while investors awaited key events later in the week.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index rose 0.3% to 10,886.16 points, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 climbed 0.6% to 24,856.05 points.

• Britain set out plans to spend £10 billion ($13.6 billion) on lower-cost housing for renters, with a focus on London. Around 60% of homes delivered through the funding would be for social rent, a subsidised cheaper form of rent that can be built by local councils or housing associations.

• The homebuilders index rose 2.5% after the announcement. Vistry jumped 16.3%, leading gains in the mid-cap index, after it received initial funding of £350 million ($477.19 million) to deliver over 3,000 affordable homes as part of the plan.

• Industrial miners Glencore and Anglo American rose about 2% each as copper prices rose to their highest in a week. [MET/L]

• Meanwhile, shares of energy majors BP and Shell dipped as oil prices fell more than 3%, with traders shrugging off the latest U.S. sanctions campaign against Iran, viewing the economic pressure as posing less risk to oil supplies than a military escalation. [O/R]

• Investors will closely watch chipmaker Nvidia’s earnings due Wednesday. The results are viewed as a major test of the AI rally as investors worry about whether the chipmaker can meet Wall Street’s lofty expectations.

• Market participants will also look for clues on the path of U.S. interest rates when Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh speaks in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Friday.

• Shares of Melrose Industries rose 10.4% after the GKN Aerospace owner said it was targeting September 28 to resume full production at its Garden Grove facility.

• Next climbed 2.4% after Citigroup upgraded the clothing retailer’s stock to buy from neutral.

£1 = $1.36

(Reporting by Anand Gopal and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Lisa Shumaker)