FTSE 100 proves its mettle once again as index hits historic milestone

Attention has been drawn to the UK stock market this week - with the FTSE 100 closing at a record-breaking 9,000 points on Monday. This rally will come as welcome news for UK pension savers and investors, many of whom may have significant exposure to the FTSE 100 through workplace and personal pension funds. Its recent performance marks the fastest climb in years for the index. Long considered an underdog, yet it has outperformed its American counterpart, the S&P 500, by 13 percentage points since January.

The upswing is being driven in part by a surge in large-cap mining stocks, as investors react to President Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on copper imports, set to take effect on August 1. The announcement sent copper futures soaring and triggered a sharp rebound in mining shares this month, heavily represented in the UK's blue-chip index.

This isn't the first time the FTSE 100 has made headlines in recent weeks. After Trump's initial tariff turmoil in April, London's stock market proved most robust at that point too - even making gains when others plummeted.

This is because the index draws its strength from necessity businesses, not high-flyers. When markets wobble, people still pay energy bills and buy food, which helps underpin company profits and dividends.

That stability is a key reason the FTSE 100 has weathered this year's global market shocks so resiliently, even turning investor nerves into relative outperformance.

Currency also plays a vital role in the FTSE 100's performance. Jemma Slingo, pensions and investment specialist at Fidelity International, explained that when sterling falls, the index "often gets a boost" as foreign earnings suddenly become worth more when converted to pounds.

Using the same logic, Slingo said a weak dollar is typically bad for the FTSE 100. However, this has yet to play out in 2025. But despite its recent success, London's index is notoriously unloved, meaning many stocks are going cheap.

A standard measure of how expensive a stock or market is - the yardstick investors use - is the price/earnings ratio (P/E ratio), which compares a company's share price with its profits.

Put simply, the lower the P/E, the cheaper the share. For context, the S&P 500 trades on a future P/E of 22.7, Europe at 15.0, while the FTSE 100 comes in even lower at 13.6 - making UK shares look like relative bargains.

In short, the FTSE 100's historic high is a milestone showing that once again classic, diversified stalwarts can still deliver when global uncertainty is rife.

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When a spouse or civil partner dies, there's a valuable but little-known ISA rule that can boost the surviving partner's tax-free savings allowance.

It's called the Additional Permitted Subscription (APS), and it lets you add the full value of your late partner's ISA holdings to your own ISA allowance - over and above the regular £20,000 yearly limit.

This means your ISA allowance for the year could surge to £30,000, £50,000 or even six figures, depending on the size of your partner's ISA pot.

You don't need to inherit the ISA assets to get this tax perk. You can inherit the allowance, even if those assets go to someone else. To qualify, you must have been married or in a civil partnership and living together when your partner died.

Claims must be made within three years of death, or 180 days after the estate is settled, whichever is later. You can use your APS with your existing ISA provider or a new one.

But not all ISA managers offer APS, so always check before applying. However, financial advisers warn that the APS process can be slow and paperwork-heavy, so acting sooner rather than later is key.