U.K. STOCK GAUGES HIT SIMULTANEOUS HIGHS FOR 1ST TIME SINCE 1999…

by on 4 October 2016

For the first time in almost 17 years, U.K. equity gauges of large-, mid- and small-cap shares reached records on the same day…

A tumbling pound and better-than-forecast economic data have been a boon for the nation’s stocks since Britons voted in June to leave the European Union. On Tuesday, the FTSE 100 Index of megacaps, the FTSE 250 Index of medium-sized companies and a FTSE gauge of small caps all reached all-time highs. The last time the three gauges were at peaks on the same day was on Dec. 30, 1999.

“It’s not just the FTSE 100 — this is a buy U.K. phenomenon,” said Alan Higgins, chief investment officer at Coutts & Co. in London. His firm oversees 14.6 billion pounds ($19 billion). “We have a really nice combination of sterling weakness, reasonably robust economy and generally not a bad environment for risk assets.”

READ more