FTSE 100 could hit 10,000 if it can shake off Brexit risk premium

For the top-flight index to reach the 10,000 point mark by end-2020, the UK share market needs to either rid itself of the current risk discount associated with Brexit or be carried aloft by a global equity bubble, a top research team said.

In a research note sent to clients, strategists at Citi said the possibility of the latter was "plausible", even if "unlikely".

Either of those two scenarios, they explained, would result in low-to-modest growth in FTSE-100 listed companies' dividends per share or allow share prices to reconnect to DPS trends.

"This outcome is plausible, but not likely as it requires too big a "leap of faith," the analysts said.

What was indeed likely, they went on to say, were 20% returns by end-2020, although even then the FTSE 100's dividend yield would remain atop 4%.