Shares Soar

Low wages - High Profits

Shares in London have reached levels last seen at the height of the dotcom boom nearly 13 years ago. At a close of 6,755 points, the FTSE 100 blue chip index matched levels from September 2000, just before the market's fascination with loss-making technology companies such as lastminute.com came to an abrupt end and the dotcom bubble burst. The closely watched index of the 100 biggest companies traded in London is also within sight of its all time peak of the 6,930 reached on 30 December 1999. The S&P 500 in the US and the Dax in Germany are also at record levels. The low interest rates has also made shares more attractive than other investments.


UK's largest financial adviser, Hargreaves Lansdown, said shares in Britain's 100 biggest companies were likely to continue rising this year as long as companies could sustain their current run of profits.

"It doesn't look like central banks are going to stop printing money any time soon. Interest rates are going to remain low. When there is little money to be made investing in government bonds and commodities are volatile, stock markets have become the focus of most investors' attention," Richard Hunter explained.