Apple market value eclipses $800bn for first time

That’s one shiny Apple.

Shares of Apple climbed as much as 1 per cent at the open on Tuesday, lifting the market value of the company above $800bn for the first time.

The iPhone maker, the world’s most valuable publicly traded company by market cap, has advanced more than 32 per cent since the year began, putting it within the top-20 performing companies on the benchmark S&P 500 in 2017.

Apple has found a renewed appetite from investors this year amid rising confidence that an update to its iPhone due later this year will provide a shot in the arm to sales. Earlier this month the group also increased its share buyback and dividend programme by $50bn.

Warren Buffett, the chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, has been one of those buyers. The Oracle of Omaha has increased his sprawling empire’s stake in the group to more than $19bn at the end of the first quarter, up from $7.1bn at the end of 2016.