4:00 PM London – The UK indexes traded higher after home prices rose in August and the economy expanded at a slower pace in the quarter to August. Vodafone agreed to sell China Mobile stake for £4.3 billion. Dana Petroleum proposed to buy certain assets of Petro-Canada UK for £240 million.

Irish consumer confidence indicator fell in August and the UK economy expanded at a slower pace in the quarter to August.

In London, FTSE 100 Index traded higher 31.67 or 0.59% to 5,439.49 and the pound edged higher to close at $1.5477.

The UK economy expanded 0.7% sequentially during the three-month ending August, slower than the revised 1.3% growth recorded during the May to July period, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research said today.

The annual rate of growth, according to the institute, was 2.7% during the three months through August, slower than the upwardly revised 5.3% growth during the three months ending in July. In the second quarter, GDP rose 5% annually.

The UK home prices rose for the second consecutive month in August, according to a survey conducted by Lloyds Banking Group Plc''s Halifax division.

Home prices recorded a modest 0.2% monthly growth in August compared to a 0.7% increase in July. Year-on-year, home prices rose 4.6% in August as against 4.9% in July.

The UK manufacturing output rose for a third month, lifting the annual growth to a near 16-year high in July.

The UK manufacturing output recorded an annual growth of 4.9% in July compared to the 4% growth in June, the Office for National Statistics said in a report today.

In manufacturing, output increased in nine of the 13 sub-sectors and fell in four sub-sectors. The largest increases in output were in the machinery and equipment industries, which rose 17.7%.

Industrial output growth also accelerated on a yearly basis in July to 1.9% from 1.3% in June.

The British Retail Consortium - Nielsen Shop Price Index increased 1.7% in August from a year earlier, faster than the 1.5% rise in July. Food inflation increased to 3.8% in August from the July reading of 2.5%, the highest since July 2009. Non-food inflation declined 0.5% in August from 1% in July.

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation and KPMG Report on Jobs survey found that demand for staff moderated in August, with weaker increases recorded for both permanent and temporary workers.

Pay pressures also weakened, with permanent staff salaries rising at the slowest rate for seven months, while temporary staff pay growth was at a five-month low.

The Irish consumer confidence indicator dropped again in August, a latest report from the KBC Bank Ireland and the Economic and Social Research Institute showed today.

The ESRI/KBC consumer sentiment index declined to 61.4 in August, compared to 66.2 in July.

Vodafone plc agreed to sell its entire 3.2% interest in China Mobile Limited for £4.3 billion, or $6.6 billion, before tax and transaction costs. Vodafone agreed to sell its entire stake of 642.87 million shares.

Vodafone expects to return around 70% of the net proceeds from the sale to shareholders by way of a share buyback, while the remainder will be used to reduce the group''s net debt.

Commenting on the transaction, Vittorio Colao, Chief Executive of Vodafone said, ""Today''s transaction achieves a near doubling of Vodafone''s original investment in China Mobile and combines our stated portfolio strategy with ongoing cooperation with China''s leading telecommunications company.""

Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and UBS are acting as lead managers and Bookrunners.