Matt Britzman, equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown:
“It’s Friday afternoon, the sun’s out, and the FTSE 100 has closed at an all-time high – no this is not a dream. Investors are finally starting to look at UK businesses and see reasons to be optimistic. The Bank of England held rates steady earlier in the week but hinted at rate cuts to come. Meanwhile, economic growth came in better than expected, but crucially not too much better to drive up fears it could cause inflation to spike. This comes on the cusp of major UK banks reporting over the past couple of weeks, and there was a huge array of optimism from management teams around the outlook for the UK.
Many will look at this run and assume it has no legs, UK investors have been beaten down too many times in the past. UK bulls will argue it’s been long overdue, with the market suffering from a hefty valuation discount to global peers for some time. Next week’s jobs and wages data will be key for momentum, markets will want to see continued signs that stickier elements of inflation are easing, or it’ll raise fresh questions about if and when rate cuts might come.”