The UK equity market trod water in June with little significant movement in any sector. The largest change was a small increase in Energy but only measurable in basis points not whole percentages. Five other sectors made gains while the remaining six all recorded small declines. Although the UK general election was called in June and the result was not known during the month it is doubtful whether it had a meaningful effect on capital markets. The lack of movement is more pro

May was another good month for the UK equity market with small caps doing particularly well as they made gains across the board of mid-single digits, about twice as much as the overall market. Corporate activity was certainly a factor as companies moved to acquire domestic rivals and international executives focused their attention on a market widely perceived as undervalued, especially smaller companies. Only three sectors had negative returns over the month: energy, Informa

Stocks viewed as having a bias to value did well over the month of April, as did the UK market overall, in part because it is viewed as a value-orientated market. Corporate activity in the Materials sector focused attention on these cash generative businesses and triggered an upward revaluation for most of them. This made it the best performing sector in the UK market in April and helped the asset class overall. Energy stocks also did well even though oil prices were soft. Pe

The UK equity market joined in the global rally during March with gains of low single digits across the board. Larger companies were the best performing cohort making significant progress over their mid - and smaller-cap peers. In part this was due to confidence on the Chinese economy returning as well as continuing gains by the US stock market dragging others along in its wake. As in recent months, currency movements did not have any significant influence. The best performin

Optimism returned to capital markets in February, mainly fuelled by good results from US tech stocks. The UK reporting season also peaked last month but here the news was mixed and left the domestic market trailing its American counterpart. The appetite for tech and growth stocks returned and left UK stocks lacklustre partly because of their bias to value. Consequently smaller companies, where expectations of growth drive sentiment, had a better month than the middle and larg

After the optimism in December that interest rates could be coming down it was perhaps to be expected that buyers’ remorse set in during January and depressed equity markets. Not only were hopes of lower interest rates scaled back but geopolitical tension, especially in the Middle East, raised concerns that growth in the near-term may not be as buoyant as previously expected. The interruption to shipping, raising freight costs and hence inflation, were the main concern. Worri

Expectations that US interest rates, and possibly UK rates as well, will start to move lower in 2024 were the main drivers behind a modest, but meaningful, upward move in UK listed equities in December. A corresponding small drop in oil prices also helped to create positive sentiment. That was why, within UK Equities, the Energy sector was the only one to record a fall in December. This was in sharp contrast to the double digit gain from the Property sector which would be a c

The UK and most major equity markets advanced in November largely driven by expectations that US interest rates have now peaked. Some observers, perhaps the more optimistic ones, have suggested that US borrowing rates may even start to come down next year. Both the UK and US have elections in 2024 and the perennial tussle between economics and politics as to what the appropriate interest rates should be will keep central bankers fully occupied until those polls have closed. A

October was a poor month for most equity indices, largely driven by the weakness of the US bond market. Towards the end of the month, yields on 10-year Treasuries exceeded 5% for the first time since 2007, creating a significant headwind for other asset classes. Some investors view rising bond yields and weak equity markets in the autumn with considerable trepidation given the corrections that have occurred in the past at this time of year. A more tangible reason to view equ

After spending most of the year lagging the general market, stocks with a bias to value roared back into favour in September and, overall, delivered a better total return than the market as determined by the major indices weighted by market capitalisation. Part of this was due to a renewed decline in sterling as sentiment about inflation, and hence interest rates, shifted away from the UK to the US. As usual, a weaker sterling favoured resource stocks and other international