21 Years of the FTSE 100 Index

With the new year barely a few days old, the FTSE 100 index was celebrating its 21st birthday. Born on the 3rd January 1984, many of the original elements look familiar. The biggest company is still BP and 44 of the original constituents survive, in some form or another, in today’s index. But its coming of age also highlights some of the dramatic changes in the stock market over the past two decades: the transformative effect of mergers and acquisitions, the growing internationalisation of the stock market, the importance of privatisations and the shift our economy from a manufacturing to a service-orientated one.

When it was launched the total value of its constituents was just over £100 billion and BP was worth £7.4bn; 21 years on, BP alone is worth £110bn and the market value of the 100 companies has risen over tenfold to £1,085bn.