As our chart shows, European stock markets led the 2025 performance race in the first six months, registering a top gain of 9.7% in those first six months.
The figures show the year-by-year returns for the assets commonly held in funds by DIY investors. The numbers are priced in British pounds so they are more like the returns UK investors would experience. They therefore differ from actual index movements. The numbers for the 2025 column are for the first six months of the year.
To highlight the impact of currency movements, a strengthening of the pound against the US dollar in 2025 will have reduced returns from American investments for UK investors. And a fall in the pound from €1.20 to €1.16 will have nudged returns higher on our European holdings. When investing in foreign assets you are investing in both the asset and the currency.
Here, we summarise reasons for the performance of the top three assets:
- European stock…
