Sector movers: Berkeley profit rise boosts housebuilders

3rd Dec 2010 16:24

Berkeley Group's numbers have given the home construction sector a lift.The London and south-east England focused housebuilder, has had a "strong" first half and thinks it can beat original expectations for the full-year.Profit before tax for the six months ended 31 October grew 18.5% to £61.6m as revenue jumped 16% to £336.2m. Net asset value (NAV) per share was up almost 5% to 667.6p.The software sector is lower with accountancy software group Sage, which has had a strong run since its update on Wednesday, running into a bit of profit taking.Top performing sectors so far todayChemicals 6,670.46 +2.41%Real Estate Investment & Services 1,480.65 +1.15%Forestry & Paper 5,434.15 +1.14%Household Goods & Home Construction 6,351.17 +0.95%Industrial Metals & Mining 7,616.11 +0.74%Bottom performing sectors so far todayPersonal Goods 18,909.15 -1.65%Software & Computer Services 671.25 -0.94%Travel & Leisure 4,898.36 -0.89%Gas, Water & Multiutilities 4,424.35 -0.58%Life Insurance 3,825.29 -0.58%