The
FTSE 100 Index is a share index of the 100 most highly
capitalised companies listed on the London
Stock Exchange. The index began on 3 January 1984 with
a base level of 1000; the highest value reached to date
is 6950.6, on 30 December 1999.
FTSE
is an abbreviation of 'Financial Times Stock Exchange'.
The index is maintained by the FTSE Group, a now independent
company which originated as a joint venture between the
Financial Times and the London Stock Exchange.
FTSE
100 companies represent about 80% of the market capitalisation
of the whole London Stock Exchange. Even though the FTSE
All-Share Index is more comprehensive, the FTSE 100 is by
far the most widely used UK stock market indicator. Other
related indices are the FTSE 250 Index (which lists the
next largest 250 companies after the FTSE 100), the FTSE
350 Index (which is the aggregation of the FTSE 100 and
250), FTSE SmallCap Index and FTSE Fledgling. The FTSE All-Share
aggregates the FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and FTSE SmallCap.
The
constituents of the index are determined quarterly; the
largest companies in the FTSE 250 Index are promoted if
their market capitalisation would place them in the top
90 firms of the FTSE 100 Index. As of 2006, the threshold
for inclusion is about £2.9 billion. As of 29 December
2006 the 6 largest constituents of the index were BP, Royal
Dutch Shell, HSBC Holdings, the Vodafone Group, the Royal
Bank of Scotland Group and GlaxoSmithKline, which were each
valued at more than £60 billion.
Component
companies must meet a number of requirements set out by
the FTSE Group, including having a full listing on the London
Stock Exchange with a Sterling or Euro dominated price on
SETS, and meeting certain tests on nationality, free float,
and liquidity.
Most
of the companies listed on this index usually include the
abbreviation plc at the end of their name, indicating their
status of public limited company.
Trading
lasts from 08.00-16.29 (when the closing auction starts),
and closing values are taken at 16.35
List
of FTSE 100 companies: See --->http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FTSE_100_Index
This
reflects the replacement of Kelda Group with Alliance Trust
on 7 February 2008.
The
33 FTSE 100 companies which had a market capitalisation
of £10 billion or more on 31 December 2007, the last trading
day of 2007 Source: from this page on the London Stock Exchange's official site. Companies
which do not have their primary listing on the London Stock
Exchange are not eligible for membership of the FTSE 100
Index and have been excluded.
FT
30
The
oldest continuous index in the UK is the now largely redundant
FT30 which began on July 1st 1935. Of the original constituents,
two are currently in the FTSE 100: Imperial Tobacco and
Rolls Royce, although Rolls Royce has not been continuously
listed. ICI was removed when it was taken over by Akzo Nobel
in January 2008. A further five are still listed but not
in the FTSE 100: EMI, The General Electric Company (now
Telent), Guest Keen & Nettlefolds (GKN), Tate &
Lyle and Woolworths, although Woolworths has also not been
continuously listed. Three of the original FT30 companies
are still in that index remain in the FT30: EMI, GKN, and
Tate & Lyle (membership is not strictly based on market
capitalisation, so this does not mean they are necessarily
among the top 30 companies in the FTSE 100). The best performer
from the original line-up has been Imperial Tobacco.[7]
References
External
links
