UK investors are at their most confident since the Brexit vote, despite continued uncertainty
UK investors are becoming increasingly confident despite continued uncertainty around Brexit, new figures show.
Investor sentiment has risen to its highest level since before the EU referendum, according to a Lloyds Bank survey of more than 4,000 adults.
Overall, Lloyds reported net investor sentiment was at 6.1 per cent in February, up from 5.7 per cent in January and three per cent in February 2016. This is the highest figure recorded by the Lloyds Bank Investor Sentiment Index since April last year.
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Investors were most bullish about gold (46.4 per cent), UK property (31.1 per cent), commodities (15.5 per cent) and UK shares (15.5 per cent).
At the bottom end of the confidence barometer were Eurozone shares (-34.1 per cent), cash (-30.1 per cent) and US shares (-5.1 per cent).
“We saw a further increase in investor sentiment in February, as investors continue to ride the positive wave of sentiment that marked the beginning of 2017,” said Markus Stadlmann, chief investment officer of Lloyds Private Bank.
“Despite this, gold saw the biggest increase in popularity for the month, which would suggest that investor optimism is tempered somewhat by the need to shield against persistent geopolitical uncertainty.”
He added:
Recent volatility created by Brexit does not seem to have deterred investors in the near term as sentiment is buoyant for both UK shares and UK property.
Many people will be looking ahead as President Trump’s policies begin to form fully and the Brexit negotiations start to play out once the Brexit bill has passed through the House of Lords.
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The Hargreaves Lansdown Investor Confidence Index, published last Friday, also reported growth in investor confidence, the third consecutive monthly rise.
Hargreaves Lansdown senior analyst Laith Khalaf said: “Investor confidence is gradually edging up, though there’s still a lot of caution in the air. That’s understandable, as a number of dramas are unfolding this year, including elections across Europe, the evolution of the Trump presidency, and of course the start of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.”