UK house prices in surprise increase; NatWest braces for slowing economy – business live
Jasper Jolly
Live, rolling coverage of business, economics and financial markets as average house price rose 0.4% in April and NatWest sets aside £140m NatWest is now the biggest faller on the FTSE 100, down 3.7% after analysts suggested that its underlying profits were slightly weaker than expected. Gary Greenwood , banks analyst at Shore Capital , said that profits before tax benefited from “stronger-than-expected notable items in income and slightly lower costs”, but once those were stripped out “underlyi