Real estate shares
edged up on Thursday as another rout on commodity stocks and a sharp fall in
Poundland shares hit the wider market.
The FTSE 100 fell by
1.2% and closed down below 6000 points at 5,961.49. The biggest faller was
mining giant Glencore which dropped by as much as 9.6%.
In the FTSE 250, discount retailer Poundland fell by 14% after it
revealed declining sales and said it would raise £50m to fund its takeover of
99p Stores. The company also said the financial position of 99p Stores had
“weakened somewhat”.
Amid the volatility, real estate was one of the few sectors to end
the day higher, albeit marginally. The FTSE Real Estate Services and Investment
Index and the FTSE REIT Index both nudged up 0.2%.