FTSE 100 LIVE: Stocks lower as UK house prices grow at fastest annual pace for two years

UK house prices rose at their fastest pace in two years. According to the latest survey from Nationwide, property values rose by 3.7% last month compared to a year earlier, despite the recent rise in mortgage rates.

It is the fastest rise since November 2022, shortly after Liz Truss’s mini-budget, and up from 2.4% in October.

The average prices of a house sold in November rose by 1.2% to £268,144, the largest monthly gain since 20 March. House prices are just 1% below the all-time high recorded in the summer of 2022.

Nationwide also predicted that there will be a jump in transactions in the first three months of next year as buyers aim to secure deals before changes to stamp duty start in April.

Nationwide’s chief economist Robert Gardner said:

Asian markets rose following another record day on Wall Street at the end of last week with the Nikkei (^N225) rising 0.8% on the day in Japan, while the Hang Seng (^HSI) climbed 0.7% in Hong Kong.

The Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was 1.1% up by the end of the session after data showed Chinese manufacturing activity expanded faster than expected in November.

This added to tentative signs of economic recovery following a wave of stimulus measures through the autumn.

Meanwhile the yen held recent gains around 150 per dollar amid bets on a Bank of Japan interest rate hike increase after last week’s forecast-topping Tokyo inflation report.

There were also gains on Monday in Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, Manila and Jakarta.

However, emerging market currencies such as the Chinese yuan and South African rand may be volatile this week after US President elect Donald Trump threatened to impose 100% tariffs on goods from Brics nations unless they dropped plans to introduce their own currency.

Good morning, and welcome back to our markets live blog – thanks for joining us. As usual we will be taking a deep dive into what’s moving markets, and all that’s happening across the global economy.

Here’s a quick look at what’s on the agenda for today:

• 7am: Nationwide House Price Index

• 9am: Eurozone manufacturing PMI report for November

• 9.30am: UK manufacturing PMI report for November

• 10am: Christine Lagarde speaks at the EIB Group Climate and Environment Advisory Council in Luxembourg

• 2.45pm: US manufacturing PMI report for November

• 3pm: US Construction Spending