The FTSE 100 over time
The FTSE 100 (“Footsie”) tracks the share prices of the 100 largest companies listed in London. It launched on 3 January 1984 with a starting value of exactly 1,000, so the level today is, very roughly, a measure of how many times over those companies’ shares have grown since then. The line below shows where the index closed at the end of each year. Hover or tap to read off any year, the change on the year before, and how far the index has multiplied since 1984.
One thing to keep in mind: this is the price index, so it ignores dividends — the cash that FTSE 100 companies pay out, historically a big chunk of the total return. A long flat stretch in the price index can still have been a decent period for an investor who reinvested dividends.
FTSE 100 year-end close (price index, excludes dividends). The dashed line is the 1,000 launch level. Switch to a log scale for a fairer view of percentage moves.
What the chart shows
- 1987 — Black Monday. A global crash in October 1987 wiped a fifth off the index in days, though it still ended the year up.
- 1999–2000 — the dot-com peak. The index reached an intraday high near 6,950 on 30 December 1999, riding the technology and telecoms bubble.
- 2000–2003 — the bust. The bubble burst and, with the September 2001 attacks adding to the gloom, the index roughly halved to a low in 2003.
- 2008 — the financial crisis. The worst single year in the index’s history as the banking system seized up.
- The 2010s — a long, choppy climb. Recovery on ultra-low interest rates, with wobbles around the euro crisis and the 2016 Brexit vote (after which a weaker pound actually flattered the many FTSE firms that earn in dollars).
- 2020 — the COVID crash. A violent fall in March 2020, then a recovery; by the mid-2020s the index was setting fresh records above 8,000.
A long, sideways decade — and what it hides
Strikingly, the FTSE 100 spent the better part of two decades below its 1999 dot-com peak. On a price basis it looked becalmed while Wall Street raced ahead — partly because London’s index is heavy with banks, energy and mining rather than the fast-growing technology giants that powered US returns. Include reinvested dividends, though, and the picture is less bleak: the FTSE 100 has long been one of the higher-yielding major indices, so total returns ran well ahead of the flat-looking price line.
Sources
- London Stock Exchange — FTSE 100.
- FTSE Russell — UK indices (methodology and history).