St James's Place and IG jump on stamp duty holiday, ISA reform, investment hubs

(Sharecast News) - Wealth manager St James's Place and online trading platform IG Group rallied on Wednesday after Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed a stamp duty holiday for newly-listed London shares and ISA reforms to encourage investment in UK equities, and announced plans for new investing hubs. In her long-awaited Budget, Reeves said there would be no stamp duty on newly-listed shares for up to three years, versus the 0.5% that applies to all UK stock purchases currently.

She also announced plans for investing platforms to build hubs championing UK investment opportunities in 2026.

Emma Wall, chief investment strategist at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The initiative has Hargreaves Lansdown full support, which we believe will help meet retail investor demand for the best of British. As we revealed last week, while the UK makes up just 3% of the MSCI All Country World Index, across HL's 2 million clients, the UK is by far the most popular investment region, accounting for 35% of the entire platform through either directly held UK shares, or UK equity-focused active and passive funds, investment trusts and ETFs. Nine of the top 20 largest investments in HL clients' stocks and shares ISAs are UK equity focused.

"These new hubs will help meet this retail investor demand with curated stocks and fund ideas, with the funds highlighted classified to one of the three IA UK equity sectors (or other equivalent sector classification) - UK All Companies, UK Equity Income and UK Smaller Companies, which require an 80% allocation to UK equities. We welcome the opportunity to showcase the best of British across our platform - both direct equities and manufactured and third-party funds and investment trusts.

"The hub, alongside newly announced the stamp duty holiday for new listings on the London Stock Exchange, should help boost interest in UK-listed investments."

London has been losing out to New York in recent years, as businesses favour the funding and regulatory environment of the NYSE.

"But this may be the carrot British businesses need to plump for a domestic listing," said Wall.

She also said the stamp duty holiday would make buying British "more enticing for investors and help redress some businesses' concerns about demand for UK shares".

Also boosting the sector was news of ISA reforms, which mean that from April 2027, £8,000 of the £20,000 allowance must be invested in UK stocks and shares.

At 1430 GMT, St James's Place shares were up 3.8% at 1,341.50p, while IG was 10.3% higher at 1,135p. AJ Bell shares were 2.5% higher at 529.50p.