Foreign & Colonial IT to leave FTSE 100

Nevertheless at close on 9 September the trust was the eleventh highest riser on the index up 3.24 per cent or 7.75p at 246.25p, while the FTSE 100 finished up 1.15 per cent at 5,004.3 - its highest point this year. It was the third time the trust has been in this index, following inclusion over 1995 to 1996 and in 2003.
 
Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust’s manager, Jeremy Tigue, commented: “As I said earlier in the year, conservatively financed, globally diversified investment trusts tend to rise up the market capitalisation scale in bear markets, where investors in single companies will often sell first and ask questions later. In these market conditions, rallies can be swift and decisive, resulting in those single companies once more taking over the investment trusts in terms of market capitalisation."

Oriel Securities also said that Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust tends to perform well relative to other UK companies in terms of market capitalisation rankings when sterling is weak and overseas stockmarkets are strong relative to the UK.

Alliance Trust remains in the FTSE 100.

Four out of seven stocks relegated from the FTSE 250 are investment companies: Absolute Return Trust, Edinburgh UK Tracker Trust, Goldman Sachs Dynamic Opportunities and JPMorgan European Investment Trust. No trusts are to enter the FTSE 250, although Finsbury Worldwide Pharmaceutical and Schroder Asia Pacific Fund join the reserve list.

Balfour Beatty and Pennon Group will also be leaving the FTSE 100. They will be replaced by pest control organisation Rentokil Initial, real estate investment trust Segro and the UK’s largest hotel and restaurant chain Whitbread. Other stocks leaving the FTSE 250 are James Fisher & Sons, Mouchel Group, Novae Group and SDL.

Joining the FTSE 250 are Avis Europe, Imagination Technologies Group, International Personal Finance, Lamprell, Northgate, Paragon Group of Companies, St Modwen Properties and Trinity Mirror.

For the full list of changes click here.

All changes from this review take effect from the start of trading on Monday 21 September 2009.