Astrazeneca was the leading pharmaceutical company in the United Kingdom as of March 7, 2024, with a market capitalization amounting to approximately 202.4 billion U.S. dollars. GlaxoSmithKline followed as the second largest pharma company in the country, with market capitalization of nearly 86.7 billion U.S. dollars. Examining the development of the FTSE 100 Index, which was launched in January 1984 with a base level of 1,000, increased by more than sevenfold to date. What is the FTSE 100 index? The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, commonly known as the "Footsie", is the most widely recognized stock market index in the United Kingdom. It is made up of the 100 largest blue-chip companies on the London Stock Exchange. Companies from various sectors, such as healthcare, consumer goods, and energy, are included in the index, as are leading banks of the United Kingdom, such as HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, and Barclays. Moreover, it can be seen as a reflection of the investment climate in the United Kingdom. What is not included in the FTSE 100 Index? Most notably, the FTSE 100 Index, like most indices, is not adjusted for inflation. While inflation in the United Kingdom has gone down dramatically since 2023, it might be useful to adjust the historic figures on the index when comparing historic data to current levels. This is especially important when the index seems to have increased by a few percentage points because inflation may have increased at a faster rate than stock prices.

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.

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.

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.

The Brent Stock Market Index, also known as the FTSE 100 Index, is a market capitalization-weighted index of the top 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. It is widely used as a benchmark for the performance of the UK stock market.

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.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is the largest stock exchange in the world, with an equity market capitalization of just below 32 trillion U.S. dollars as of January 2025. The following three exchanges were the NASDAQ, Shanghai Stock Exchange, and the Japan Exchange Group. What is a stock exchange? A stock exchange is a marketplace where stockbrokers, traders, buyers, and sellers can trade in equities products. The largest exchanges have thousands of listed companies. These companies sell shares of their business, giving the general public the opportunity to invest in them. The oldest stock exchange worldwide is the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, founded in the late sixteenth century. Other functions of a stock exchange Since these are publicly traded companies, every firm listed on a stock exchange has had an initial public offering (IPO). The largest IPOs can raise billions of dollars in equity for the firm involved. Related to stock exchanges are derivatives exchanges, where stock options, futures contracts, and other derivatives can be traded.

As of March 2025, the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca was the leading company listed on the London Exchange (LSE), with a market capitalization of 184 billion British pounds. This made them the largest of all all companies listed on the LSE. Seen as the heart of the global financial community, the London Stock Exchange is the second largest stock market in Europe and ranks eighth globally. Key information The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is among the largest stock market operators globally and ranks 11th in terms of the oldest stock exchanges in existence, with 224 years of operation as of 2025. Performance after Covid The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound effect on the global economy, causing considerable volatility on the stock market. The London Stock Exchange (LSE) saw a notable decline in the market capitalization value of its listed companies, reaching its lowest value in March 2020 at approximately three trillion British pounds in correlation with a surge in the average daily number of trades, which peaked at over two billion. Following this initial reaction, the LSE observed a decrease in the average daily active traders, alongside a gradual recovery in the market capitalization of the listed companies.

As of September 2024, CRH Plc was the leading company in the industrial goods and services sector on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), with a market capitalization of almost 46 billion British pounds. Second on the list was Rolls Royce Holdings Plc, with a value of 44 billion British pounds.

As of September 30, 2024, the largest bank listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) was the British-owned HSBC Holdings, with a market cap double that of the Spanish bank Santander S.A., the second-largest bank on the LSE.

The FTSE Italia Mid Cap Index has fluctuated between 2004 and 2022, from a low of 17,632 points in 2012 to a peak of 49,842 points at the end of 2021. As of October 2024, the FTSE Italia Mid Cap Index stood at 46,058 points. The FTSE Italia Mid Cap Index is comprised of the companies ranked 61-100 traded on the Milan Stock Exchange in terms of market capitalization. It is therefore follows the FTSE MIB Index, which contain the 40 largest Italian companies.

Euro Stoxx 50 is the index designed by STOXX, a globally operating index provider headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, which in turn is owned by Deutsche Börse Group. This index provides the broad representation of the Eurozone blue chips performance. Blue chips are corporations known on the European market for quality, reliability and the ability to operate profitably both in good and bad economic times.
Development of the Euro Stoxx 50 index The year-end value of the Euro Stoxx 50 peaked in 1999, with 4,904.46 index points. It noted significant decrease between 1999 and 2002, then an increase to 4,399.72 in 2007, prior to the global recession. Since the very sharp decline in 2008, there was a tentative increase, never yet reaching the pre-recession levels. As of the end of 2021, the Euro Stoxx 50 index was getting close to its historical heights, reaching 4,298.41 points, its highest position post recession, before falling again in 2022. In 2023 and 2024, the index rose again, reaching 4,862.28 points. Some of the following reputable companies formed the Euro Stoxx 50 index: Adidas, Airbus Group, Allianz, BMW, BNP Paribas, L'Oréal, ING Group NV, Nokia, Phillips, Siemens, Société Générale SA or Volkswagen Group.
European financial stock exchange indices Other European indices include the DAX (Deutscher Aktienindex) index and the FTSE 100 (Financial times Stock Exchange 100 index). FTSE, informally known as the “Footsie”, 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 7,733.24 at the closing of 2023. More in-depth information can be found in the report on stock market indices.

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.

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.