Investors cautiously optimistic over FTSE prospects

About two-fifths of stockbrokers believe the FTSE 100 will end next year between 6,001 and 6,500 points, new research has found.

Stockbrokers are cautiously optimistic for 2016

The study, a client survey carried out earlier this month by Barclays Stockbrokers, showed optimism outweighing pessimism, with a fifth of respondents believing the index will finish 2016 having risen above 7,001 points. That compares to only 7 per cent of investors saying they think it will end the year at a maximum of 6,000 points.

Chris Stevenson, vice president at Barclays Stockbrokers, said the FTSE 100 is set to finish this year between 6,001 and 6,500 points, and he added that it is “understandable” that only about a fifth of last year’s poll guessed correctly given 2015’s “staggering market highs and lows”. In last year’s survey, 50 per cent believed the index would sit at 6,501 to 7,000 at the end of this year and 28 per cent predicted that it would be above 7,001 points. Barclays noted that the FTSE 100 closed at 6,749.09 on 31 December 2013.

Stevenson also said: “Looking ahead to the New Year and taking into account the volatility the index has experienced this year, it is interesting to see our investors adopting a cautious outlook for the year ahead and believing that next year’s FTSE 100 end of year close will mimic this year’s.”