UK equities dominate in April: Is this the start of an M&A boom?

FTSE 100 up 6.84% over the month

UK equities were at the top of the leader board in April, with IA UK equity income the top-performing sector closely followed by IA UK All Companies on the back of the FTSE 100 climbing 6.84% over the month, making it one of the best-performing global indices.

Takeover talk supported UK equities with the surprise announcement of supermarket giant Sainsbury's agreeing a merger with Walmart-owned Asda, as well as Takeda's £46bn purchase of Shire. The food and drug retailing sector was the best-performing UK sector following a period of poor returns for investors, with Tesco posting good results and Morrison's faring well on top of the well-received Sainsbury/Asda deal. Sterling started the month on a strong footing, with the dollar down 2% against the pound at one point, but was buffered by economic data, which cast doubts over the expected r...