Market round-up: Tory budget keeps FTSE 100 afloat despite Greek and China conundrums

Number 11 — George Osborne delivered the first fully Conservative budget in 18 years on 8 July Getty

Despite another fall in China's stock market and the ongoing Greek debt saga, the first Conservative-only budget since 1996 offered hope to investors on the FTSE 100 on 8 July.

"Investors welcomed George Osborne's pledge to cut corporation tax progressively to 18% in 2020 while BAE Systems was an immediate beneficiary of the government's promise to increase defence spending every year during this parliament," says AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

"The budget diverted attention away from Greek debt and the continued fall in China stocks, which has been weighing on miners recently and now appears to be spreading. Standard Chartered and Prudential, which have a large exposure to the Chinese market, were among the few FTSE 100 companies which failed to get a budget bounce."

The FTSE 100 overall rose 0.91% to close at 6,490.70. This was after a steep -1.58% drop on 7 July on Greek debt worries.

The UK's housing market began to feel the effects of the budget's aim to abolish the tax rules around of "non-doms" so those who have lived in Britain for the past 15 years but claim their permanent address in another country are taxed the same way as any other Briton.

Builder Persimmon fell 4%, Berkeley Group was down 6%, and Crest Nichols lost 5.2%.