Deal or no deal: When will the UK equity tide turn?

Brexit clarity may not even guarantee a happy new year

Since the start of the year to time of writing (2 December), the FTSE 100 and All-Share indices have languished at the bottom of the pack, having fallen by 12.7% and 11.4% respectively while all other major regional indices have achieved positive year-to-date returns.

Even the MSCI Europe ex UK index, which is one of the worst performers this year, is up 6.3% according to data from FE fundinfo. There are numerous reasons UK equities have struggled this year. While markets around the world plummeted sharply in March as the coronavirus pandemic reared its head on a global scale, the FTSE 100 simply did not rebound to the same extent as other markets, given its strong value bias and hefty weightings to incumbent banks and oil and gas stocks, its minimal weightings to technology and healthcare companies, the dominance of US tech mega caps, the UK Gover...