Press Release of the Day – 14th January 2020

Ownership of UK quoted shares: 2018

The value of ordinary shares held in UK incorporated companies listed on the London Stock Exchange by sector of the owner, with a geographical breakdown for shares owned outside the UK.

Main points

• At the end of 2018, shares in quoted UK domiciled companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) were worth a total of £1.88 trillion.
• The proportion of UK shares held by the rest of the world increased yet again to set a record high, at 54.9% of the value of the UK stock market.
• The proportions of UK shares held by UK-resident individuals rose to 13.5%, up by 1.2 percentage points from 2016, moving further away from the historical low of 10.2% in 2008.
• The proportion of quoted shares held by investment trusts fell by 0.7 percentage points to 1.4%, the lowest point since 2002.
• Other financial institutions based in the UK held their proportion of shares unchanged from 2016, at 8.1%.
• Insurance companies’ share of the market stands at 4%, falling 0.9 percentage points from 2016.

– Ends –

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