1 UK stock to buy and one to avoid as the FTSE falls

It’s been a tough week so far FTSE 100 and FTSE 250. With all the carnage taking place over worries about the stability of global banks, investors have been running for cover. Of course, there are legitimate reasons to be concerned, but when the market falls, it always presents some opportunities. This is one of the UK stocks that I love and that I love.

Support for the property sector

The savings I like are persimmon (LSE: PSN). It has fallen 14% over the past month and 46% over the past year. I think I’m going to buy it soon. Some may think I’m crazy for thinking about buying property shares now.

One of the reasons why I feel sane in my reasoning is because of interest rate expectations. Going back a few weeks, economists are predicting a further rate hike from the Bank of England to 4.5% or even 4.75%. This kept mortgage rates high and caused problems for Persimmon.

Due to concerns about financial stability, this has now gone out the window. There is a strong argument for no rate hike until the regulators are happy that the banks are in a solid position. If that happens, I Persimmon can benefit as mortgage rates move lower to reflect the change in expectations.

In fact, yesterday when the FTSE 100 was in the red, Persimmon was one of the best performing stocks in the index. I think it shows that others share my point of view on this.

Of course, there are still wider concerns about the UK property market. Persimmon has lowered its expectations for revenue and profit for next year. This is a risk, but I would argue that this sentiment is reflected in the current share price.

Concerns for small banks

On the other hand, I steer clear of Bank of Georgia (LSE:BGEO). To be clear, I am not bearish on all banking stocks, but I am concerned about small businesses like this.

To put that in perspective, the current market cap is £1.21bn. This contrasts with HSBCwith a market capitalization of £109bn.

As we saw with Silicon Valley Bank, smaller institutions will come under pressure as depositors worry about security. Outflows go to larger banks that people consider safer.

Therefore, I expect Bank of Georgia to see money flow to larger banks in the near future. I don’t think it’s going to collapse tomorrow, but I think investor sentiment is to get rid of small banks right now.

Over the past week, the stock price has fallen by nearly 12%. Even though the price has doubled over the past year, I still don’t feel comfortable owning the stock so quickly.

To be a good investor, know what not buying is as important as choosing what to invest!