BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - U.K. stocks were little changed on Friday as investors fretted over coronavirus lockdowns and rising bond yields.
Signs of a slowing housing market also weighed on markets. U.K. house prices fell 0.3 percent in January from a month earlier as the market appeared to lose momentum following a stimulus-fueled surge last year, mortgage lender Halifax said today.
The benchmark FTSE 100 was marginally higher at 6,509 after closing 0.1 percent lower on Thursday.
Beazley shares soared 13 percent. After plunging to an annual loss, the insurance company said it was confident of returning to profit in 2021.
Signature Aviation lost 2.4 percent. The former owner of London's Gatwick Airport has joined forces with Blackstone and Bill Gates' Cascade to bid for the aviation company.
AstraZeneca was moving lower. The drug maker said that its Imfinzi (durvalumab) drug failed to meet its primary endpoint in a Phase III trial for head and neck cancers.
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