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London drives stock market rally.

 The stock market rally has further to run this year; analysts have forecast signs that inflation has

Index

peaked, and a more resilient economy promises to support sentiment. Shares in London have outperformed City expectations since the start of this year, with the FTSE 100 breaching the 8,000 mark for the first time this week. Analysts at Barclays and Goldman Sachs believe the FTSE 100 index will end the year above its present level, at 8,200, compared with the record 8,012.53 hit on Thursday. However, Barclays said that fear of missing out among institutional investors was likely to return, particularly among asset managers that had «stayed on the sidelines, sticking to the stagflation playbook of 2022», Barclays said.

However,persistent inflation means there is no free lunch and higher-for-longer rates are the cost for resilient growth». The top three biggest risers on the FTSE 100 since January are JD Sports, the athleisure retailer, International Consolidated Airlines, owner of British Airways, and BT Group, reversing a bruising sell-off in each of those companies last year. In recent years, the FTSE 100 has had to watch from the sidelines as its overseas peers, notably in the United States, set record after record. The decline in sterling’s value has provided another boon for the heavyweight FTSE 100, whose constituents make three-quarters of their earnings overseas.

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  1. Andrea18 February 2023 at 16:41

    Unfortunately the UK is not in a good place right now and this doesn't look like it will get better any time soon. There is dire need of good leadership at the top and plans in place for the next 5-10 years not just 1-2 years.

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