Friday 1 May 2009

FTSE's 11-week high sparks hope that bull market may be arriving

FTSE's 11-week high sparks hope that bull market may be arriving

Hopes that the bear market in equities is over were buoyed as shares rose and more analysts speculated we could be in the early stages of a bull market.

By Edmund Conway
Last Updated: 9:27PM BST 30 Apr 2009

The benchmark FTSE 100 index rose by 1.3pc, capping its biggest monthly increase since 2003. The market's buoyancy comes with many experts claiming that the worst of the financial crisis and market slides are now over. The FTSE dropped by more than 31pc in 2008, but has now risen back to an 11-week high of 4,243.71, despite the spread of swine flu and warnings from the International Monetary Fund that the crisis is not even half-way over.

Analysts hailed the fact that the index increased by 8.1pc this month, with a strong performance from the banking sector yesterday.

Disappointing news is just being ignored, good news is being jumped on as an excuse to get involved," said David Morrison, market strategist at GFT Global Market.

Meanwhile, Anthony Bolton, the renowned fund manager and president of investments at Fidelity International, said a bull market may have begun in March.

"All the things are in place for the bear market to have ended," he said. "When there's a strong consensus, a very negative one, and cash positions are very high, as they are at the moment, I'd like to bet against that."

A report by Barclays Wealth said the likelihood is that the world economy has avoided depression and would escape with a milder recession. Aaron Girwitz, head of global investment strategy, said: "We suggest beginning to add more risk to portfolios, and look to Asia to lead the economic revival. Credit markets will outperform as risk appetite increases.

"But we remain somewhat cautious. Market volatility will ease back only gradually. We are not urging investors to increase equity allocations to levels above their strategic norms".

However, others have warned that with many banks still needing extra capital, the crisis and the associated bear market may have longer to run.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/5252775/FTSEs-11-week-high-sparks-hope-that-bull-market-may-be-arriving.html

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