The UK Technology Hardware sector is the best performing so far this year, echoing themes seen across the globe since the Covid meltdown in March.

Led by £1.8 billion broadband and 5G networks testing business Spirent (SPT), which has rallied 20% this year, the sector has increased 19.9% to comfortably sit at the head of the FTSE sectors leader board on the final trading day of August.

SOFTWARE FLOP

Oddly, however, the UK’s Software sector has failed to follow suit, declining by nearly 5% since 2020 began, despite the strong post-Covid rally of engineering software firm Aveva (AVV), the sector’s largest company.

Electronic & Electrical Equipment, Food & Drug Retailers and the Equity Investment sectors are the only others to post year-to-date gains.

BASHED UP AUTOS

The Automotive sector is the worst performer, down more than half as the coronavirus pandemic played havoc with production and cars sales.

Banks, Oil & Gas and the Travel sectors are among others to have fallen sharply during 2020.

Click here to see our live sectors page.

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