When everyone crowds into the AI theme, smart funds seek "reverse trading" to hedge the selling storm: the UK stock market with low valuations and defensive attributes.

Global investors have become so optimistic about the global economic outlook and the prosperity of technology stocks that they are increasingly avoiding the UK stock market, seen as defensive and too heavily weighted towards safe-haven assets this year. This has also made stock buybacks and mergers and acquisitions one of the few positive factors in the London stock market.