BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - U.K. stocks moved higher on Thursday and the pound drifted higher against its major counterparts as voters head to the polls in the country's third general election since 2015.
Polling began at 7 am U.K. time and will end at 10 pm. The latest opinion polls indicated that the race has tightened significantly.
The Conservatives are hoping for a majority win, enabling to take Britain out of the European Union by the end of January. Today's election has been described by all parties as Britain's most important in memory.
In economic releases, U.K. house prices declined at the fastest pace since April as uncertainties from Brexit and general election weighed on the property market, survey data from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors showed. The house price balance fell to -12 in November from -5 in October.
The benchmark FTSE 100 was up 29 points, or 0.41 percent, at 7,246 after finishing marginally higher on Wednesday.
WPP advanced 1.5 percent. The advertising group said it reached a non-discretionary agreement with Goldman Sachs International regarding the purchase by Goldman Sachs of WPP's ordinary shares of 10 pence each for an aggregate purchase price of up to 300 million pounds.
Ocado Group shares climbed 1.3 percent. Ocado Retail, a joint venture between Ocado Group and Marks & Spencer Group, reported that its retail revenue for the 13 weeks to 1 December 2019 rose 10.8 percent.
AstraZeneca edged up slightly on news that Imfinzi has been approved in China for the treatment of unresectable, Stage III non-small cell lung cancer based on the Phase III PACIFIC trial.
Serco Group, a provider of public services, gained over 2 percent. The company said it expects underlying trading profit for 2019 to be around 120 million pounds compared to 93 million pounds, last year.
Infrastructure group Balfour Beatty jumped more than 4 percent after issuing a solid trading update covering the period to 11 December 2019.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX