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Shareprices.com: FTSE 100 “will break the 6,000 mark this year” according to Standard Life Chief

August 16, 2010

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Keith Skeoch, Chief Executive of Standard Life Investments

LONDON (RPRN) 08/16/10 — Chief Executive of Standard Life (LON:SL) Investments Keith Skeoch, has said he expects the FTSE 100 share index to shrug off the threat of a double-dip recession and to rally above the 6,000 mark before the close of 2010. Shareprices.com, the free website providing free up-to-the-minute share information on all FTSE 100, 250 and 350 London Stock Exchange listed companies, is the best place to monitor whether Skeoch’s prediction will come true.

Skeoch, who spoke as Standard Life released its first-half profits report last week, said: “If you look at bond prices across the world, then we think the markets have already priced in slow growth - verging on a double-dip recession - but not deflation.

"For stock markets, the situation is the similar; it's not about avoiding recession but deflation. Also, the FTSE-100 is not just linked to the state of the UK economy as almost 70 per cent of profits are generated abroad by companies who have good exposure to emerging markets, which will support share prices."

His words have come at a time of real fear about the state of the global economy. China and Japan have both reported a slowdown in their economy and both the Federal Reserve and Bank of England have downgraded the outlook for the economy.

However, Standard Life and insurers as a whole are experiencing a rich period of business. Along with Aviva (LON:AV) and Legal & General (LON:LGEN), the heavyweight UK-listed insurers are still receiving a strong flow of funds despite difficult times with the interest rate. So it is easy to understand why Skeoch has been so upbeat.

David Holmes, founder of Shareprices.com, said this sort of outlook for the UK’s blue-chip index as a whole is very positive, despite being a little optimistic.

“The market has been very volatile in recent weeks, and this new raft of data showing economy slowdowns in some of the major financial nations isn’t helping UK stocks,” said Holmes.

“What is positive however is that a Chief Executive is making an optimistic statement about the near future.

“Right now, the FTSE 100 reaching 6,000 doesn’t even seem feasible. But statements like this should lift investor interest and, with the index currently below 5,300, it could mean some real bargains for those with a keen eye.”

You can track stocks like Standard Life using Shareprices.com’s useful ‘watch list’ tool. This means you can monitor the activity of the one stock, see a history of past trends and how the share price is affected. So from this point onwards, you can see if Skeoch’s prediction comes true.

“Shareprices.com has been designed to be the easiest place for online share dealing,” added Holmes

“We’ve made the site as easy to use as possible, giving you the option to compare brokers and providing up-to-date news from every session of activity on the London Stock Exchange.”

For more information, check out www.shareprices.com.

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