Foreign ownership of UK shares reaches record high

(Press Association) The proportion of UK company shares owned by foreign investors has reached another record high. Foreign-owned shares accounted for over half of the total value of UK shares in December 2016.

Some 53.9% of shares on the UK stock markets belonged to the rest of the world at the end of last year, according to new figures.

This is a small rise on the previous high of 53.7% recorded in 2014. By contrast just 12.3% of shares in 2016 were owned by UK individuals.

The figures, from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), put the value of UK domiciled company shares at £2.04tn, making the foreign-owned shares worth around £1.09tn.

The latest rise reflects the steady increase in foreign investment in the UK since the early 1990s, which saw the proportion of UK shares owned by the rest of the world pass 25% by 1997 and 50% by 2012.