HOUSEBUILDERS received a Budget boost after Chancellor George Osborne delivered a raft of measures to help Britons get on the housing ladder.

Under the proposed £3.5 billion Help-to-Buy scheme, the UK Government will provide an interest-free loan worth 20% of the value of a new-build house to help those with a 5% deposit to buy their first home.

The move came as a further lift for housebuilding shares after recent improved fortunes, although the Budget overall failed to cheer the London market yesterday as the FTSE-100 index suffered its fourth day of losses in a row, slipping 8.62 points to 6432.70.

The decline comes amid uncertainty over the bailout of debt-laden Cyprus and was compounded by more bad news on the UK economy after figures showed the first increase in unemployment in a year.

And in a further sign of the squeeze on household budgets, average weekly earnings rose by 1.2% in the three months to January, down from 1.3% between October and December last year and less than half the rate of inflation.

The pound showed little reaction to the Budget's gloomy confirmation of growth downgrades and higher-than-expected borrowing, holding firm at $1.51 and €1.17.

Mining stocks were again shaken by the uncertain global outlook, with Anglo American down by 47p to 1773p.

Retailer Marks & Spencer shares lost some of their recent takeover strength after analysts at Nomura estimated that clothing sales declined by a double-digit percentage figure in the four weeks to February 17.

The performance has been impacted by the timing of half-term and the weather, but shares still fell 5.7p to 392.4p.

Royal Bank of Scotland rose 2%, or 6.6p, to 300.2p, as Liberum Capital backed chief executive Stephen Hester's turnaround efforts by recommending that investors now buy shares in the part-nationalised bank.

Outside the top flight, bakery chain Greggs dropped 8%, down 43.5p to 480p, after it admitted sales remained under pressure amid tough high street trading that left annual profits 2% lower at £51.9 million in the year to December 29.

Among housebuilders, Barratt Developments rose 15.8p to 255.6p, Taylor Wimpey firmed 5.25p to 90.85p and Persimmon improved 38.5p to 1010p.

There was also a Budget boost for pub group JD Wetherspoon after Mr Osborne scrapped a duty escalator which has been blamed for closing pubs and cutting duty by 1p. The stock rose 9.5p to 537.5p.