Investor sentiment towards UK remains subdued

Sentiment towards North America leaps

Lack of confidence in the UK economy continues to drag on investor sentiment who point to pressures on the High Street, Brexit uncertainty and the 'Beast from the East' as negative factors, according to Hargreaves Lansdown's Investor Confidence index.

Although confidence in the UK market reached its highest level since January, with the HL Investor Confidence Index rising 16% to 80 this month, the HL UK Economic Confidence Index fell again from 66 to 62. Investors pointed to concerns around low growth and productivity, debt and political issues for the UK economy while for UK markets, there was optimism for overseas-earning companies. According to the Office for National Statistics, the UK economy grew by just 0.1% in the first quarter of the year - the slowest rate since Q4 2012 and missing analysts' expectations of 0.3% growth -w...