LONDON: As London’s shops and pub gardens reopen for the first weekend in three months, funds targeting smaller UK companies are among the best performers in Europe thanks to a rally in domestic stocks that benefit from Britain’s vaccine rollout success.
Among Western European stock funds with US$200mil (RM820mil) or more in assets, the majority of the 10 best performers this year are focused on UK small caps, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The FTSE Small Cap Index has gained 14% in 2021 versus a rise of 11% for a benchmark tracking small stocks on euro-area exchanges.
The nation’s markets are benefiting from a confluence of factors: Valuations had been depressed by the overhang of the UK’s departure from the European Union, and during the worst of the pandemic, when there was no economic growth, investors were will paying to pay a premium for the few companies that were enjoying rapid increases in sales.
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