UK equities

Investors are continuing to look East for current equity opportunities, with a number of Asia-focused funds among the top sellers on Fidelity FundsNetwork in July.

The UK equity market has the potential for continued strong returns despite its recent strength.

The rally in the UK equity market since the low point reached on 3 March has surprised even some of the most hardened optimists.

With inflation a growing possibility, what are the implications for equities?

BlackRock's Colin Graham is maintaining a short-term bias towards equities in his Balanced Growth Portfolio fund, but warns the asset class could suffer next year.

Over the past few weeks, the UK market has been experiencing some broadening out, and we have seen the defensive sectors playing catch-up with good share price rises in tobacco and food producers, for example.

The battleground of fund charges is beginning to gather momentum and is set to only accelerate as the industry comes to terms with the market volatility and its effects on investor behaviour.

It may be too soon to talk about the green shoots of economic recovery, but fiscal and monetary stimulus packages have certainly started to have an effect.

Despite equalling the record for the number of successive days of gains on UK and US equity markets, it is worth noting that neither has made much ground since the turn of the year.

Lazard has bolstered its UK equity team with the appointment of Lloyd Whitworth.