As of May 2025, the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca was the leading company listed on the London Exchange (LSE), with a market capitalization of 159 billion British pounds. This made them the largest of 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.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is the largest stock exchange in the world, with an equity market capitalization of almost ** trillion U.S. dollars as of November 2025. The following largest three exchanges were the NASDAQ, PINK Exchange, and the Frankfurt Exchange. 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.

The total market capitalization of all companies trading on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) took a large hit during the early months of 2020, due mostly part to a mass sell-off of shares caused by the fears surrounding the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Between December 2019 and March 2020, the total value of market capitalization decreased by more than *** billion British pounds (GBP). The overall number of companies currently trading has also been falling. The number of daily trades spiked in March 2020 and then decreased as well. As of February 2025, the total market value of all companies trading on the London Stock Exchange stood at over **** trillion British pounds. European stock exchanges While almost every country has a stock Exchange, in Europe only five exchanges are considered major, with total market capital amounting to over *** trillion euros. The London Stock Exchange is the second largest in Europe and tenth largest worldwide. As of January 2025, Europe’s largest stock exchange, Euronext had a total market capital of listed companies valued at approximately **** trillion U.S. dollars.

As of February 2025, ************************************************ was the leading technology company listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), in terms of market capitalization. The corporation was valued at around ** billion British pounds. It was followed in the ranking by ********** and *****************, which reached market values of ** and ***** billion British pounds, respectively.

As of April 2025, the multinational commodity trading and mining company Glencore International had the largest all-time IPO on the London Stock Exchange. The Anglo-Swiss company debuted on the LSE in May 2011 with an opening price of ***** billion British pounds. An initial public offering is the process by which the shares of a private company are sold to public investors for the first time.

As of February 2025, the largest bank listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) was the British-owned *************, with a market cap double that of the ***************************, the second-largest bank on the LSE.

As of February 2025, Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc was the leading company in the industrial goods and services sector on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), with a market capitalization of ** billion British pounds. Second on the list was CRH Plc, with a value of **** billion British pounds.

As of February 2025, British holding bank HSBC Holdings Plc was the leading finance company listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) with a total market capitalization of almost *** billion British pounds. Second in the ranking was Spanish bank Banco Santander S.A., with a market cap of nearly **** billion U.S. dollars.

London Stock Exchange Group PLC ranked first among the leading financial services companies trading on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in terms of market capitalization, with a total market capitalization value of over ** billion British pounds. This was followed by 3I Group Plc and Pershing Square Holdings LTD, which were worth over ** billion British pounds and ** billion British pounds, respectively.

As of February 2025, China Pacific Insurance Group had the highest market cap of any insurance company trading on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The group saw a market capitalization of **** billion British pounds. Market capitalization is the outstanding value of a company's shares and is often used to measure the size of a company and investor's interest in each enterprise. London Stock Exchange As of July 2023, there were just under ***** companies trading on the London Stock Exchange, and on average somewhere around ******* trades per day. The combined market value of companies trading on the LSE was *** trillion British pounds (GBP) in July 2023, below the peaks found before the COVID-19 pandemic. Initial public offerings (IPOs) When a private company first offers its shares to the public, the process is called an initial public offering (IPO). IPOs are typically used by growing companies that need to raise capital or by allowing owners to sell off some of their ownership of a company. The Kazakhstani technology-focused bank Kaspi saw the highest initial public offering in 2020 of over *** billion British pounds.

Hong Kong Land Holdings LD was the leading real estate company on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) as of April 2023, with a total market capitalization value of nearly ***** billion British pounds. This was followed by Segro Plc and the Land Securities Group Plc, with values of approximately ** billion and **** billion British pounds respectively. In the same month, the total market cap of all real estate companies trading on the LSE was close to *** billion British pounds.

The British-Australian mining company Rio Tinto was the second-largest company in the basic resources industry listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) as of February 2025, in terms of market capitalization, with a value of over ** billion British pounds. The most valuable basic resources company on the LSE was BHP Group, with a market cap of over ** billion British pounds.

As of February 2025, Shell Plc was the leading company in the energy sector listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), with a total market capitalization value of over *** billion British pounds. This was followed by Reliance Industries Limited and TotalEnergies, with values of over *** billion and *** billion British pounds, respectively.

As of February 2025, the France-incorporated company Saint-Gobain was the second-largest construction company listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) with a market capitalization of approximately ** billion British pounds. The leading construction company on the LSE was the Irish CRH, with a market cap of over ** billion British pounds. Construction and materials companies on the exchange had a combined market capital value of *** billion British pounds as of December 2024. CRH largest Irish company CRH, is an international group of enterprises which cover the construction process from materials and products, to distribution. CRH not only topped the London Stock exchange for construction companies, they are also the second largest company headquartered in Ireland in terms of turnover. London Stock Exchange As of February 2025, the London Stock Exchange had approximately ***** companies trading from more than ** countries globally with a combined market capital of approximately *** trillion British pounds (GBP). Seen as the heart of the global financial community, the London Stock Exchange is the second largest market in Europe and ranks eighth globally.

Segro PLC was the biggest real estate investment trust (REIT) trading on the London Stock Exchange as of March 2025. A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs invest in many types of commercial real estate: offices, rental apartments, industrial warehouses, as well as hospitals, hotels, and retail properties. Market cap of REITS As of March 31, 2025, Segro PLC was ranked at the high end of the scale, with approximately ****billion British pounds in market capitalization. Segro PLC operates in eight European countries and specializes in big box and urban warehousing for retailers, logistics and transport companies, manufacturers, wholesalers. The London Stock Exchange (LSE) LSE is one of the oldest stock exchanges in the world, listing approximately ***** companies with an aggregate market capitalization of approximately *** trillion British pounds in 2024.

This statistic shows the largest global stock exchanges globally as of March 2025, ranked by the value of electronic order book share trading. In that time, the NYSE Stock Market was the largest stock exchange worldwide, with the value of EOB shares traded amounting to *** trillion U.S. dollars. Stock exchanges — additional information Stock exchanges are an important part of the free market economic system and are the most important component of the stock market. A stock exchange provides the setting in which stockbrokers, sellers, buyers, and traders can be brought together to take part in the sale of shares, bonds, derivatives and other securities. The core function of a stock exchange is to enable the fair and orderly trading, as well as the provision of price information, of any securities being traded on that exchange. Originally the exchanges were physical places (in some world locations the goods are still traded over-the-counter) but with time, they took the shape of an electronic platform. In order that company shares may be bought, traded and sold on a stock exchange, the company is required to have undergone an initial public offering process (IPO) on that particular exchange. The initial public offering of Alibaba Group Holding, a Chinese company operating in the e-commerce sector, on the New York Stock Exchange in September 2014, was the largest listing in the United States since 1996. The IPO of Alibaba Group Holding raised approximately ***** billion U.S. dollars.

As of February 2025, AstraZeneca Plc was by far the leading healthcare company listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) with a total market capitalization of *** billion British pounds. This was followed by GSK Plc and Haleon Plc, with a value of over ** billion and ** billion British pounds, respectively.

In 2021, the London Stock Exchange was the leading European stock exchange, with a total number of 100 initial public offerings (IPOs) recorded. The following two European exchanges in terms of IPO volume were the Nasdaq Nordic in Stockholm, and the Oslo Børs, with ** and ** IPO deals respectively.

2023 saw a total of ** initial public offerings (IPOs) on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), compared to ** in the previous year, with a total market capitalization on admission of *** billion British pounds. While the largest admission in 2023 was by Amicorp FS (UK) plc, the all-time largest admission onto the LSE was by Glencore International plc in 2011. An Initial Public Offering (IPO) is the first time that a company's stock is sold to the public in the organized capital market.

As of January 29, 2025, the FTSE index stood at ******** points - well above its average value of around ***** 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 ******** 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.