FTSE 100 starts February on the front foot

London’s FTSE 100 made a bright start led by tech proxy Scottish Mortgage Trust as Nasdaq bounced more than 3% higher overnight.

London’s blue chip index added 65 to 7,529 in early trades.

UK house prices rose at their fastest pace since 2005 in January said Nationwide. Its index rose by 11.2% although the building society expects the growth to slow down soon.

Tesco’s discount store Jack’s, which was established to try and compete with Aldi and Lidl, is to be shut down. Six of the stores will become Tesco superstores, while the other seven will be closed in coming months.

PlayStation maker Sony is to buy Bungie, the game developer behind Destiny, for US$3.6bn. The deal comes just weeks after Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard, the maker of Call of Duty and Candy Crush US$68.7bn.

Among the small caps, ProBiotix Health, a subsidiary of OptiBiotix, said a consumer study has underlined its products are effective in reducing cholesterol. Studies showed that 96% of the consumers taking CholBiomeX3 reported a reduction in their total cholesterol levels.

Shanta Gold has raised the reserves and resources total at its projects in Tanzania. Total gold reserves now stand at 645,000 ounces grading 3.04 grams per tonne, an increase of 20,000 ounces net of depletion.

Canadian Overseas Petroleum shares rose as chief executive Arthur Millholland snapped up US$385,700 worth and said he wants more. “I had planned to purchase more but came up against a blackout period today which extends to the filing of our annual results on 30 March,” he said.