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The FTSE 100 has hit a second all-time closing high in as many days.
The index of the UK’s biggest 100 listed companies, having earlier hit a new intra-day high of 8,075.52 at just after 8.24am on Tuesday, finished the session up 20.94 points, around 0.26%, at 8044.81.
It’s worth reflecting it has taken just over a year for the premier index to recapture the summit last achieved when, on 16 February 2023, the FTSE hit the dizzying heights of 8,047.06.
A fair bit has happened since then.
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When the FTSE last peaked, before this week, the Bank of England’s main policy rate – Bank Rate – stood at 4%, with the monetary policy committee going on to raise it a further three times, taking it to the present 5.25% in August last year.
By then, the UK economy had already entered a recession, albeit a very shallow one from which it has, in all probability, now emerged.
Shortly after the FTSE hit its peak in February last year, it surrendered the 8,000 milestone fairly rapidly, slumping to as low as 7,206.82 on 20 March last year as markets shuddered following the rescue of Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse.
It then meandered along for most of the rest of the summer, revisiting those troughs, as concern mounted that central banks around the world would continue to raise interest rates in the face of rising inflation.
As we now know, interest rates had peaked by the autumn, with the US Federal Reserve’s last hike coming in July last year, the Bank of England’s in August and the European Central Bank’s in September. The final quarter of last year saw equity markets everywhere, including the FTSE, rally as investors began to price in interest-rate cuts during 2024.
It’s worth noting, though, the FTSE has been a relative laggard this year.
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