They say that mood follows price, and in this respect, it is easy to see why private markets, and private equity in particular, are garnering so much attention, from Downing Street downwards. Even as the FTSE 100 crosses the 9,000 mark for the first time and flirts with new all-time highs, the capital return from the UK's leading index over the past five years is 50%. By contrast, the S&P 500...

Discounts to the value of assets held, and more rarely premiums, are par for the course when it comes to investment trusts. These are best understood as the gap between the share price and the net asset value (NAV). For example, a trust with 100p of assets per share and a 95p share price trades at a 5% discount to NAV. Discounts can give savvy investors the chance to buy assets for less than...

Although it was overshadowed by president Trump's latest tariff climb-down, the recent updated Mansion House Accord ? backed by the PLSA (Pension and Lifetime Savings Association), the ABI (Association of British Insurers) and the City of London Corporation ? was a key moment for UK financial markets and pension savers. No fewer than 17 of the UK's largest pension funds voluntarily agreed to...

Investment trusts beat stocksTech trusts lead the gainersSeraphim Space in first placeIn an interesting turn of events, after a couple of years 'in the wilderness', investments trusts seem to have come back into favour as an asset class this year according to data from the AIC (Association of Investment Companies).In the six months to the end of June, the average trust returned 8% compared...

Discounts and premiums to NAV (net asset value), which is the value of all the investments an investment trust holds minus any debt or loans, are among the trust universe's unique quirks and can confuse novice investors. At the moment the vast majority of trusts trade at a discount.Annabel Brodie-Smith, the AIC's (Association of Investment Companies) communications director, says: 'Only around...

Annual return of 23%Action the main driverShares up over 50%The UK?s largest private equity trust, 3i Group (III), delivered another outstanding return for investors in the year to the end of March despite adverse foreign exchange movements which trimmed NAV (net asset value) growth.However, with the stock price having risen more than 50% over the past 12 months there was an element of...

Stock prices in London edged down at the open on Thursday, while investors expect the Bank of England to keep its benchmark bank rate unchanged.The FTSE 100 index opened down just 2.68 points at 8,351.37. The FTSE 250 was down 10.32 points, 0.1%, at 20,481.67, while the AIM All-Share was up 1.41 points, 0.2%, at 781.24.The Cboe UK 100 was marginally up at 833.97, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.1% at...

After almost closing at a new high in early April, the UK?s blue-chip FTSE 100 has finally made it into the ranks of indices hitting new all-time highs thanks to a 4.5% gain since the start of January.On 22 April the index reached its highest ever close and on 23 April it moved through its previous intra-day high.The UK clearly isn?t in the same league as the US, where the S&P 500 has notched...

HgCapital Trust (HGT) 458.8pMarket cap: £2.1 billionWhile it may not be as well known as FTSE 100 private equity firm 3i (III), specialist software and services investment trust HgCapital (HGT) has an equally impressive track record.Total share-price returns over the last decade are 18.8% per year, slightly ahead of the FTSE 100 giant which has posted 18% compound annual growth, while 2023...

It has been an up and down year for the UK stock market but some names have really shone over the course of the last 12 months. In this article we go through the market cap ranks to identify the best performing large-, mid- and small-cap stocks in 2023.£5 billion+ market capWhile Nvidia (NVDA:NASDAQ) has dominated headlines globally as excitement around AI (artificial intelligence) helped...

There were several trends in the UK stock market this year which, if you managed to identify them, served you well.Most obviously, although it may not have seemed it at the index level, large-cap stocks generally performed better than small- and mid-caps, although for the lucky few the small-cap space has been rife with takeover activity.In terms of sectors, aerospace and defence topped the...

Unless they own shares in investment trusts, most readers probably will not have heard of the phrase 'continuation vote', and there is a chance a good many who do own investment trusts may be unfamiliar with them too.However, as the recent ups and (mostly) downs at music royalty fund Hipgnosis Songs Fund (SONG) have demonstrated, continuation votes can be literally a make-or-break event for...

According to data from the AIC, the average investment trust discount to net asset value has widened from 12.2% at the end of 2022 to 14.5% as of 8 September 2023, while sector averages have generally widened. The exception is private equity, which narrowed from 25.1% to 4.5%, skewed by 3i's (III) dramatic swing from discount to premium.While this presents an opportunity to buy into parts of...

It has not been an easy decade to be a fund manager. Brexit, a global pandemic, the largest war in Europe for a generation and an inflation crisis have punctuated a 10-year period which has seen significant market volatility. However, steering investors' money through difficult waters is how a good fund manager earns their corn.Using FE Analytics' platform, Shares has crunched the numbers to...

Best performing stocks in the first half include lots of consumer-facing namesMarks & Spencer, Rolls Royce and Aston Martin Lagonda make the listRecovery plays among the top 10The flagship index for the UK stock market, the FTSE 100, may not have kept pace with global peers at the halfway point of 2023 but some stocks in the broader FTSE 350 have really impressed.The 10 best performers on the...

- Dutch retailer provides bulk of the valuation uplift- Market reaction suggests shares fairly priced- Listed infrastructure business a small dragThe UK's largest listed private equity firm, £17 billion market-cap 3i Group (III), posted an impressive return for the year to March thanks to a standout performance from its largest investment.However, after a 30% rally year-to-date, the shares...