Between January 2020 and April 2024, the FTSE 100 Index reached its lowest value following the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, the index dropped to a level of approximately 5,000 points. After reaching the lowest point, the FTSE 100 increased throughout 2020 and 2021, peaking at over 8,000 points in December 2022. Since then, the index has fluctuated significantly, reaching over 8,000 points after mid-April and remaining above this value. As of March 7, 2025, it was recorded at 8,679.688.

As of January 29, 2025, the FTSE index stood at 8,557.81 points - well above its average value of around 7,500 points in the past few years.On the 12th of March 2020, amid the escalating crisis surrounding the coronavirus and fears of a global recession, the FTSE 100 suffered the second largest one day crash in its history and the biggest since the 1987 market crash. On the 23rd of March, the FTSE index saw its lowest value this year to date at 4,993.89 but has since began a tentative recovery. With the continuation of the pandemic, the FTSE 100 index was making a tentative recovery between late March 2020 and early June 2020. Since then the FSTE 100 index had plateaued towards the end of July, before starting a tentative upward trend in November. FTSE 100 The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, otherwise known as the FTSE 100 Index is a share index of the 100 largest companies trading on the London Stock Exchange in terms of market capitalization. At the end of March 2024, the largest company trading on the LSE was Shell. The largest ever initial public offering (IPO) on the LSE was Glencore International plc. European stock exchanges While nearly every country in Europe has a stock exchange, only five are considered major, and have a market capital of over one trillion U.S dollars. European stock exchanges make up two of the top ten major stock markets in the world. Europe’s biggest stock exchange is the Euronext which combines seven markets based in Belgium, France, England, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal.

At the end of February 2025, the FTSE 100 index stood at 8,809.7, marking its highest level since January 2015. This was a significant recovery compared to the 12th of March 2020, amid the escalating crisis surrounding the coronavirus and fears of a global recession, when the FTSE 100 suffered the second-largest one-day crash in its history and the biggest since the 1987 market crash.

The main stock market index in the United Kingdom (GB100) increased 479 points or 5.86% since the beginning of 2025, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks this benchmark index from United Kingdom. United Kingdom Stock Market Index (GB100) - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on March of 2025.

Dataset

This dataset was created by Kaysen Barnes

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The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 index (FTSE 100) is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with the highest market capitalization. The index, which began in January 1984 with the base level of 1,000, reached 8,173.02 at the end of 2024. LSE Overview Established in 1571, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) has grown to become the ninth-largest globally. Companies listed on the LSE had a companies primarily hail from the energy and pharmaceutical sectors, with Shell and AstraZeneca leading the pack. In the realm of

The statistic shows the highs and lows of the FTSE 100 Index between 2000 and 2023. The FTSE 100 Index is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with the highest market capitalization, it remains one of the most widely used stock indices and is regarded as a gauge of business prosperity in the United Kingdom. In 2023, the FTSE reached a yearly high of 8,014.31 and a low of 7,256.94. London Stock Exchange As of May 2024, the number of companies trading on the London Stock Exchange stood at 1,775. These companies had a combined market capitalization of approximately 3.7 trillion British pounds and 553,000 daily average trades. Largest companies on the LSE As of March 2023, Shell Plc was the leading company listed on the London Stock Exchange in terms of market capitalization. This made them the largest of all companies trading shares on the LSE in 2023 from more than 70 countries globally. Seen as the heart of the global financial community, the London Stock Exchange is the second largest stock market in Europe and ranks seventh globally.

Due to the implications of Covid-19 and its effect on the global economy, it comes as no surprise that during the first quarter of 2020 all sectors underperformed against last year. There are however sectoral differences between large (FTSE 100) and small-cap (FTSE 250) indexes and how they performed. According to the source, financials, consumer services and industrials have accounted for over eighty percent of the underperformance seen in the FTSE 250.

The FTSE All-Share Index shed around one quarter of its value between December 2019 and March 2020, largely due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, but likely also influenced by the uncertainty around Brexit at the time. Since then, it has recovered and reached its peak of over 4,750 points at the end of February 2025.The FTSE All-Share Index is the aggregation of the FTSE 100, FTSE 250 FTSE Small Cap indexes, and represents around 98-99 percent of the total UK market capitalization. Since December 29, 2017 the index has been comprised of the 641 largest U.K. companies by market capitalization on the London Stock Exchange.

Cyprus Index: CSE: FTSE Med 100 data was reported at 5,595.830 30Nov2000=5000 in Sep 2021. This records an increase from the previous number of 5,549.510 30Nov2000=5000 for Aug 2021. Cyprus Index: CSE: FTSE Med 100 data is updated monthly, averaging 5,132.250 30Nov2000=5000 from Sep 2004 (Median) to Sep 2021, with 205 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 12,266.070 30Nov2000=5000 in Oct 2007 and a record low of 3,579.470 30Nov2000=5000 in Mar 2020. Cyprus Index: CSE: FTSE Med 100 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Cyprus Stock Exchange. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Cyprus – Table CY.Z001: Cyprus Stock Exchange: Indices.

Data on the share of female directors working on the board of FTSE 100 companies in the United Kingdom (UK) (both executive and non-executive) from 2012 to 2020 shows an increase of 3.4 percent in female professionals holding a position on the board of directors can be observed from 2019 to 2020. As of June 2020, there was a share of 34.5 percent of female held directorships in the UK.

Graph and download economic data for Financial Market: Share Prices for United Kingdom (SPASTT01GBM661N) from Dec 1957 to Feb 2025 about stock market and United Kingdom.

The FTSE AIM 100 Index fell between January and March 2020, largely due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. After that, the index recovered, reaching nearly 6,500 points in August 2021 - the third-highest value over the period surveyed—and well above its value of 5,000 points in January 2020. Since the beginning of 2022, however, the Index dropped again to under 4,000 points. As of the end of February 2025, it stood at 3,388.88 index points. The FTSE AIM 100 Index includes the 100 largest companies listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange (LSE). AIM offers a more flexible regulatory system, catering for companies that are smaller, less-developed or which need more flexibility around governance.

Key information about United Kingdom Market Capitalization: % of GDP

• United Kingdom Market Capitalization accounted for 83.8 % of its Nominal GDP in Dec 2024, compared with a percentage of 70.5 % in the previous year
• UK Market Capitalization: % Nominal GDP is updated yearly, available from Dec 1999 to Dec 2024
• The data reached an all-time high of 131.2 % in Dec 2006 and a record low of 70.5 % in Dec 2023

CEIC calculates annual Market Capitalization as % of Nominal GDP from monthly Market Capitalization and quarterly Nominal GDP. London Stock Exchange provides Market Capitalization in local currency. The Office for National Statistics provides Nominal GDP in local currency. As of 2017, definitions from the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) have been introduced. Market Capitalization includes domestically listed companies only.


Further information about United Kingdom Market Capitalization: % of GDP

• In the latest reports, FTSE All-Share recorded a daily P/E ratio of 14.4 in Jul 2022
• FTSE 100 closed at 8,674.0 points in Jan 2025

While the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic caused all major stock market indices to fall sharply in March 2020, both the extent of the decline at this time, and the shape of the subsequent recovery, have varied greatly. For example, on March 15, 2020, major European markets and traditional stocks in the United States had shed around 40 percent of their value compared to January 5, 2020. However, Asian markets and the NASDAQ Composite Index only shed around 20 to 25 percent of their value. A similar story can be seen with the post-coronavirus recovery. As of November 14, 2021 the NASDAQ composite index value was around 65 percent higher than in January 2020, while most other markets were only between 20 and 40 percent higher.

Why did the NASDAQ recover the quickest?

Based in New York City, the NASDAQ is famously considered a proxy for the technology industry as many of the world’s largest technology industries choose to list there. And it just so happens that technology was the sector to perform the best during the coronavirus pandemic. Accordingly, many of the largest companies who benefitted the most from the pandemic such as Amazon, PayPal and Netflix, are listed on the NADSAQ, helping it to recover the fastest of the major stock exchanges worldwide.

Which markets suffered the most?

The energy sector was the worst hit by the global COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, oil companies share prices suffered large declines over 2020 as demand for oil plummeted while workers found themselves no longer needing to commute, and the tourism industry ground to a halt. In addition, overall share prices in two major stock exchanges – the London Stock Exchange (as represented by the FTSE 100 index) and Hong Kong (as represented by the Hang Seng index) – have notably recovered slower than other major exchanges. However, in both these, the underlying issue behind the slower recovery likely has more to do with political events unrelated to the coronavirus than it does with the pandemic – namely Brexit and general political unrest, respectively.

South Africa Index: FTSE/JSE: Food and Drug Retailers data was reported at 11,983.953 01Jan2006=100 in Jun 2018. This records a decrease from the previous number of 12,076.717 01Jan2006=100 for May 2018. South Africa Index: FTSE/JSE: Food and Drug Retailers data is updated monthly, averaging 18,367.535 01Jan2006=100 from Jan 2006 (Median) to Jun 2018, with 150 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 93,499.020 01Jan2006=100 in Nov 2012 and a record low of 7,542.992 01Jan2006=100 in Feb 2014. South Africa Index: FTSE/JSE: Food and Drug Retailers data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The data is categorized under Global Database’s South Africa – Table ZA.Z001: Johannesburg Stock Exchange: Index.

At the end of Janaury 2025, the FTSE Eurofirst 100 index stood at 5,878.5, which represents a significant increase compared to the previous month. The FTSE Eurofirst 100 index dropped to its lowest level in March 2020, when it fell to below 3,300 points.

2020 saw unprecedented falls in the FTSE 250 due to the economic downturn created by the COVID-19 pandemic, falling to a value of 15,101.1 in March 2020. Since then the index has recovered, reaching 20,326.4 points in February 2025.While the FTSE 100 looks at the market capitalization value of the 100 largest companies trading on the London Stock Exchange, the FTSE 250 index consists of the 101st to 350th largest companies.

In the first quarter of 2020, global stock indices posted substantial losses that were triggered by the outbreak of COVID-19. The period from March 6 to 18 was particularly dramatic, with several stock indices losing more than 20 percent of their value.

Worldwide panic hits markets From the United States to the United Kingdom, stock market indices suffered steep falls as the coronavirus pandemic created economic uncertainty. The Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 are two indices that track company performance in the United States, and both lost value as lockdowns were introduced in the country. European markets also recorded significant slumps, which triggered panic selling among investors. The FTSE 100 – the leading share index of companies in the UK – plunged by as much as 21 percent in the opening weeks of March 2020.

Is it time to invest in tech stocks? The S&P 500 is regarded as the best representation of the U.S. economy because it includes more companies from the leading industries. However, helped in no small part by its focus on tech companies, the Nasdaq 100 has risen in popularity and seen remarkable growth in recent years. Global demand for digital technologies has increased further due to the coronavirus, with remote working and online shopping becoming part of the new normal. As a result, more investors are likely to switch to the tech stocks listed on the Nasdaq 100.

The main stock market index in Italy (IT40) increased 4872 points or 14.25% since the beginning of 2025, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks this benchmark index from Italy. Italy Stock Market Index (IT40) - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on March of 2025.