If you’d like a live take on the markets as an Asian Voice reader – come to my free online webinars: www.alpeshpatel.com/mega.
First things first in terms of finance and UK and India – looks like the PMs of India and UK will be at the TechRocketships event where Anand Mahindra and I will judge for our respective countries the best companies to set up in the UK. Join us: https://www.events.ukti.gov.uk/tech-rocketship-awards-2016
Well it feels like the end of the financial world. A collapse in the Pound is what triggered it. I write to you from Tokyo and boy is it expensive! £12 for a bottle of water at dinner! So now what? Well the UK stock market is at an all time high. We did not see that coming as a benefit of Brexit. So your pension is actually better off. We really really did not see that coming.
You see as the pound crashed, so profits of UK companies in the FTSE 100 (the largest 100 listed companies), increase automatically. Why? Because most earn their money abroad and so in pound terms earn even more. So yes it’s just a technicality but your pension is worth more…as long as you don’t go abroad to spend it of course.
Basically as long as you spend your money in the UK you are fine. If you are in business try and export. But don’t import and don’t holiday abroad. That said I have to go to New York and that is going to be expensive for me – I know it will be.
Should you now sell the FTSE 100 and buy US stocks. Well the FTSE 100 will keep on rising I think for now as the pound falls. So just stick with it as it hits an all time high.
What excites me the most? Well the first thing to boost the UK stock market to an all time high was what I just described, but what will boost it even more is that as the Pound is cheap, they will start from overseas look to buy more British companies and that will send the stock market even higher.
Look for companies which are British and good at exporting – they are going to benefit the most – like Bae or Rolls Royce.
Oh, try to eat less – most of our food is imported. It’s good to eat less anyway!
Alpesh Patel
www.alpeshpatel.com/mega
