Halifax Financial Services finds FTSE 250 and Small Cap perform best

The FTSE 250 and the FTSE Small Cap offered the strongest returns for investors over the past three months, according to Halifax Financial Services.

Halifax said that the indices offered a total shareholder return (TSR) of nine per cent.

Of the individual sectors Steel and Other Metals out-performed the rest of the field with a TSR of 24 per cent.

"UK equities have continued to deliver positive returns over the last year, building on the strong gains of 2003," said John Bearman, head of UK equities. "In particular the FTSE 250 and Small Cap indices have both delivered a consistently healthy return for investors this year.

"This has meant that some of this year's star performers have been from outside the FTSE 100, although over the past three to six months the FTSE 100 has demonstrated better performance," he added.

The best performing stock over the last three months has been telephone directories group Yell, delivering a TSR of 28 per cent, while the poorest performing stock has been Compass Group, with a TSR of -26 per cent following a profit warning in September.