It’s time to start backing the UK stock market

Things haven’t been great for the UK stock market over the last two decades. Indeed, the City has been a “serial underachiever”, especially when compared with the US, says Andrew Jones, a portfolio manager on the global equity income team at Janus Henderson. It has seen poor returns, and there have been significant outflows from the market. UK equity funds have experienced net withdrawals for several years in a row. There has been an exodus of firms quitting the London market, going private instead, or heading for the American exchanges, and in some quarters this has given rise to the perception that the UK market is (or may become) “uninvestible”, as Jones says. There are, however, some rays of hope. An “uptick” in performance over the past few months has seen the FTSE outpace the US market. With valuations at “attractive” levels, this looks like a good time to start backing Britain.