“Sell in May and go away” might be a favourite saying of the City, but those who might have followed the advice this year would have left a lot of money on the table as the FTSE 100 has surged ahead.
Currently, London’s main market is up 1.7 per cent since the start of May, while the more domestically-focused FTSE 250 has fared even better, rising 3.7 per cent.
While this isn’t as good as the FTSE 100’s excellent last two months, where it jumped 3.3 per cent and 2.4 per cent, it still represents strong growth for the market.
“Sell in May and go away, don’t come back until St Leger’s Day” is an often quoted adage, but analysis has found it doesn’t actually hold up in practice.
So, which companies have led the market higher?
FTSE 100 winners and losers
BT Group has charged ahead of the FTSE 100, rising over 25 per cent in May after shares surged on the back of bullish guidance halfway through the month.
The telecoms company reported a strong fibre roll out – it added a record 78,000 new customers a week to its network.
Chief executive Allison Kirkby said: “I always love to squeeze the shorts… and prove them wrong”.
Marks & Spencer was the runner up of the month. The stock added 18.8 per cent, after it revealed a jump in annual profit last week thanks to buoyant sales across its food halls and clothing and home arm.
Meanwhile, Auto Trader, which added 18 per cent, and St James’s Place, which added 16 per cent, were the third and fourth top performers in the FTSE 100 respectively.
Shares in Auto Trader hit all time high yesterday after it proved to the market it has managed to maintain a dominant position in the online car market. Meanwhile, after analysts placed a ‘Buy’ rating on St James’s Place, shares in the wealth manager jumped.
Other winners included JD Sports, Standard Chartered, and Fresnillo, all of which recorded double-digit returns in May.
However, some companies fared much worse in May, with four seeing share prices drop by double digits.
Leading the pack was Entain, which has fallen 15 per cent over the last month to a new 12-month low due to fears about gambling regulations.
The Ladbrokes owner was followed at the bottom by Easyjet, which fell 14.5 per cent, along with Sage Group and National Grid, both of which have fallen 12 per cent.
Overall, 31 FTSE 100 stocks are set to finish the month in the red, compared to 69 in the black.
The 10 best performing FTSE 100 stocks in May so far
CompanyShare price growth this month (per cent)BT Group+25.54Marks & Spencer+18.80Auto Trader+18.13St James’s Place+16.16JD Sports Fashion+15.74Standard Chartered+13.28Fresnillo+12.54Diploma+12.24Experian+11.81Airtel Africa+11.63Source: Hargreaves Lansdown