Sharewatch

News of heightened corporate activity in the housing sector failed to have an impact on shares last week. The Berkeley Group rose by less than 3% to 884.5p at the close of trading on Friday, despite confirming that it was in talks to sell Crosby Homes for about £270m to Australian developer Lend Lease.

Similarly, shares in Kier rose a mere 1.5% to 907p, even though its £23.5m purchase of Ashwood Homes landbank was applauded by the City as a shrewd deal.

Shares in most of the UK quoted housebuilders rose slightly, but to no major extent – hindered by a general malaise in the housing market ahead of the next crop of annual and interim results. Barratt was the best performer among the volume housebuilders, up 3.3% to 687.5p.

Shares in Taylor Woodrow, Wimpey and Redrow each rose by about 2% to 325.5p, 435.5p and 402.75p respectively.

One of the best performers in the sector last week was plasterboard maker BPB, which is set to rejoin the FTSE 100 after a 16-year absence. Shares rose 3.4% to 530p last week. BPB has bucked the trend set by poorly-performing UK manufacturing companies, by making a £287m pre-tax profit last year. Its shares have doubled in the past three years, boosting its market capitalisation to £2.67bn.

It was an unremarkable week for contractors, whose share prices fell a notch. Carillion was down 2.8% to 254p and Balfour Beatty dropped 1.4% to 687.5p.

Travis Perkins was one of the poorer performers last week, falling 2.8% to 1678p.

Among the support services companies, WSP, with a market capitalisation of £170.5m, had a good week. Its shares rose 5.4% to 282p, continuing a fairly solid performance since the start of the year, and rewarding its success in bidding on a lead consultant basis. Another good performer was White Young Green, as shares rose 4% to 281p.

The two powerhouses of the sector, FTSE 100 members Hanson and Wolseley, had decent performances last week, up 2.4% to 534.5p and 1.1% to 1162p respectively.

The uplift in both companies helped the Construction & Building Materials sector rise overall by 1% to 3545. The All-Share rose by 1% to 2545p.

Angela Monaghan is business editor