True, sterling has dipped against the euro - its value has fallen 4.5 per cent so far this year - but factor that into the performance of the FTSE All-Share index and its decline in the year to date is still only 5.9 per cent. That means the All-Share's currency-adjusted return is not as poor as the broad-based STOXX Europe 600 index - down 7.6 per cent - or Paris's CAC 40 index - down 6.1 per cent. Germany's DAX index has been more resilient - it has only lost 3.6 per cent so far. Still, London's performance is hardly that of an equity market whose domestic economy teeters on the brink of the unknown and the unappetising.
Nor have those sectors that are obviously vulnerable in the event of Brexit been especially weak. General financial, a mish-mash of a sector that includes fund managers, specialist lenders and market services providers, has fallen 8.2 per cent. But, given the risks posed by Brexit, that looks a sober enough response. Similarly, the property companies that comprise real-estate investment trusts have also been hit - the 'reit' sector is down 5.7 per cent. But that, too, looks measured given the uncertainties to London's property values and the capital's development potential. Perhaps most curious is that the 'home construction' sub-sector within the household goods sector has barely changed at all this year despite the threat to house prices in the south-east, which has knocked 13 per cent off the price of Berkeley (BKG) owing to its strong London connection.