UK investment bank Peel Hunt has given some support to under-pressure Chancellor Rachel Reeves over last week’s Budget as it said efforts to boost the London market and invest in UK companies were “positive steps”.

Peel Hunt welcomed moves announced in the Budget, such as the stamp duty exemption for shares bought in newly listed firms on the London market and changes to Isa investing.

It comes as Ms Reeves has been forced to defend herself against claims she misled voters by talking up the scale of the fiscal challenge in the run-up to last week’s Budget, in which she announced £26 billion worth of tax rises.

Peel Hunt said: “Following a prolonged period of pre-Budget speculation, businesses and investors now have greater clarity from which they can start to plan.

“The key measures were generally well received by markets, particularly the creation of additional headroom against the Chancellor’s fiscal rules.

“Initiatives such as a stamp duty holiday on initial public offerings (IPOs) and adjustments to the Isa framework are intended to support UK capital markets and encourage investment in British companies.

“These developments, alongside the Entrepreneurship in the UK paper published simultaneously, represent positive steps toward enhancing the UK’s attractiveness for growth businesses and long-term investors.”

Ms Reeves last week announced a three-year stamp duty holiday on shares bought in new UK flotations as part of a raft of measures to boost investment in UK shares.

She also unveiled a change to the individual savings account (Isa) limit that lowers the cash element to £12,000 with the remaining £8,000 now redirected into stocks and shares.

But the Chancellor also revealed an unexpected increase in dividend tax, rising by 2% for basic and higher rate taxpayers next year, which experts have warned “undermines the drive to increase investing in Britain”.

Peel Hunt said the London IPO market had begun to revive in the autumn, although listings activity remained low during its first half to the end of September.

Firms that have listed in London over recent months include The Beauty Tech Group, small business lender Shawbrook and tinned tuna firm Princes.

Peel Hunt added that deal activity had “continued at pace” throughout its first half, with 60 transactions announced across the market during that time and 10 active bids for FTSE 350 companies, as at the end of September.

Half-year results for Peel Hunt showed pre-tax profits jumped to £11.5 million in the six months to September 30, up from £1.2 million a year earlier, as revenues lifted 38.3%.

Peel Hunt said its workforce has been cut by nearly 10% since the end of March under an ongoing savings drive, with full-year underlying fixed costs down by around £5 million.

Steven Fine, chief executive of Peel Hunt, said: “The second half has started strongly, with the group continuing to play leading roles across both mergers and acquisitions and equity capital markets mandates.”

Stock Market News Live Updates: Indian equity benchmarks opened with a strong gap-up on Monday, December 1, touching fresh record highs, buoyed by a sharp acceleration in Q2FY26 GDP growth to a six-quarter peak of 8.2%. Positive cues from Asian markets further lifted investor sentiment.

The BSE Sensex was trading at 85,994, up 288 points or 0.34%, after touching an all-time high of 86,159 in early deals. The Nifty 50 stood at 26,290, higher by 87 points or 0.33%, after scaling a record intraday high of 26,325.8.

Broader markets also saw gains, with the Midcap index rising 0.27% and the Smallcap index advancing 0.52%.

On the sectoral front, the Nifty Bank hit a historic milestone by crossing the 60,000 mark for the first time, gaining 0.4% to touch a fresh peak of 60,114.05.

Meanwhile, the Metal and PSU Bank indices climbed 0.8% each in early trade.

Global cues

Asia-Pacific markets were mostly lower on Monday as traders assessed fresh Chinese manufacturing data and increasingly priced in the likelihood of a US Federal Reserve rate cut later this month.

According to the CME FedWatch Tool, markets are now assigning an 87.4 per cent probability to a rate cut at the Fed’s December 10 meeting.

China’s factory activity unexpectedly slipped back into contraction in November, with the RatingDog China General Manufacturing PMI by S&P Global easing to 49.9, below expectations of 50.5, as weak domestic demand persisted.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 1.6 per cent, while the broader Topix declined 0.86 per cent. In South Korea, the Kospi dropped 0.30 per cent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.31 per cent.

US stock futures were steady in early Asian trade after a positive week on Wall Street. On Friday, in a shortened post-Thanksgiving session, the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.65 per cent to 23,365.69, its fifth consecutive day of gains.

The S&P 500 rose 0.54 per cent to 6,849.09, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 289.30 points, or 0.61 per cent, to close at 47,716.42.