FTSE 100
FTSE 100 — London Stock Exchange (LSE)
Benchmark index tracking 100 companies listed on London Stock Exchange (LSE).
About the FTSE 100
FTSE 100 is the benchmark stock index of London Stock Exchange (LSE), tracking 100 companies. It is free-float weighted: each company's weight depends on the share of its capital actually available for trading.
Characteristics
Price history
Loading chart…
Historical performance
| Period | Performance |
|---|---|
| Today | — |
| 1 month | — |
| 1 year | — |
| 5 years | — |
Calculated live from Yahoo Finance closing prices (unofficial public proxy) — may be temporarily unavailable or delayed.
Track FTSE 100 in your portfolio
Add the FTSE 100 (symbol ^FTSE) to your virtual portfolio to track its allocation, performance and your simulated gains/losses alongside your other positions.
Add FTSE 100 to my portfolioIndex composition
| # | Company | Ticker | Sector | Weight |
|---|
No company found.
Approximate ranking by market capitalization, for educational purposes — the top 5 stocks make up about 32% of the index. Official, up-to-date composition on londonstockexchange.com.
What is the FTSE 100?
The FTSE 100 tracks the 100 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, weighted by free-float market capitalization. Launched on January 3, 1984 with a base of 1,000 points, it is managed by the FTSE Group and serves as the leading barometer for the UK economy and the City of London.
How do I invest in the FTSE 100?
The simplest route is an ETF tracking the index, widely available on major European investment platforms. More experienced investors can also use FTSE 100 futures or directly select some of the major UK companies that make up the index.
Which sectors dominate the FTSE 100?
Financials alone account for about 26% of the index, reflecting the historical weight of the City of London in banking and insurance. Consumer staples (~15%), energy (Shell, BP) and pharmaceuticals (AstraZeneca, GSK) round out a highly internationalized index: most FTSE 100 companies' revenue comes from abroad, which partly decouples it from the UK domestic economy.
What are the risks and limitations of the FTSE 100?
Its lack of technology stocks (under 2% of the index, versus 20-30% for the S&P 500 or CAC 40) explains its chronic underperformance versus other major Western indices over the past decade. As a price index that doesn't reinvest dividends, its headline progress looks weaker than that of comparable "total return" indices, even though the FTSE 100's dividend yield is among the highest of any major world index — meaning the real return for a shareholder is higher than the index level alone suggests.
How has the FTSE 100 performed during past crises?
The FTSE 100 ended 2008 down about 31%, less severe than the CAC 40 or DAX over the same period thanks to its oil and mining weightings, which were less exposed than banks and continental industry. The June 2016 Brexit referendum triggered a sharp but brief drop (the index actually ended the year higher, as the pound's decline boosted the dollar-earning multinationals that dominate the FTSE 100) — an example of a local political shock that didn't produce the expected drag on the index.
Price and chart data fetched live from Yahoo Finance via an unofficial public proxy: it may be delayed, temporarily unavailable or inaccurate. Composition and weightings are provided for educational purposes and are not a substitute for an official source. Nothing on this page constitutes investment advice.