FTSE 100

The FTSE 100 stock market index lists the top 100 companies by market capitalisation traded on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) - the UK's primary stock exchange.

The Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) or FTSE Russell Group, is a British organisation that creates and maintains stock market indices, such as the FTSE 100/250/350.

A stock market index measures the price performance of a group of shares from a stock exchange. They can be used as a benchmark of how the market, or a segment of it, is performing. The media often treat indices as indicators of market health.

The FTSE 100 or 'Footsie', lists the top 100 companies by market capitalisation on the London Stock Exchange.

The FTSE indices list the companies traded on the London Stock Exchange by market capitalisation (also referred to as market cap). The market cap is calculated by multiplying the company’s share price by the number of available shares. For example, if a company has 10 million shares selling for £100 each, it would have a market cap value of £1 billion.

On this page you can see a list of the investments available with Fidelity from the FTSE 100. By clicking on the deal button, you can log in to your Fidelity account to buy shares in these companies. If you don’t have a Fidelity account, it will provide details on how to open one so you can invest.

The London Stock Exchange is open Monday to Friday from 8am to 4.30pm GMT, except on holidays declared in advance.

FTSE indices, which list companies by market capitalisation traded on the London Stock Exchange (LSE):

• FTSE 100 - lists the top 100 companies
• FTSE 250 - lists the companies ranked 101-350
• FTSE 350 - lists the top 350 companies
• FTSE All-Share - lists all companies
• FTSE Small Cap - lists the companies outside of the FTSE 350 index
• FTSE Aim All-Share - lists the companies who have their primary listing on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), a sub-market of the LSE.
• FTSE Aim 100 - lists the top 100 companies who have their primary listing on the AIM.

The FTSE 100, like the FTSE 250, is used as an indicator of the UK's economic health. The FTSE 250 contains a smaller portion of internationally focused companies than the FTSE 100.

When the FTSE is quoted as up it means the total market capitalisation value of all the listed companies added together is higher than the previous market close figure.  Likewise, a drop is if the value has decreased on the previous market close.

When the FTSE hits a new high, this means the total worth of all the indexed companies at market close has increased beyond the previous highest figure in FTSE history.

The companies listed in the FTSE indices are reviewed every quarter, usually in March, June, September and December. 

Any changes to the indices are based on the value of the companies at the close of business the night before the review.

The other major global stock market indices include:

• Dow Jones - an index of 30 of the largest publicly owned companies in the US. It provides a good indicator of the health of the US economy.
• Nasdaq (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) - an electronic US stock exchange listing over 3000 companies. It includes the indices:
  • Nasdaq-100 (NDX) - 100 of the largest non-financial companies traded on the Nasdaq.
  • Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP) - this covers all the stocks listed on the Nasdaq.
• Xetra DAX, also known as ‘the DAX’ - this German stock market index is made up of 40 of the largest companies trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
• CAC 40 (Cotation Assistée en Continu) - this French stock market index is made up of the 40 largest publicly-traded companies on the Euronext Paris.
• Hang Seng - an index of the 50 largest companies on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
• S&P 500 (Standard & Poor’s 500) - an index of the 500 largest and most liquid companies listed on stock exchanges in the US.