FTSE 100 posts best performance since global financial crisis recovery – and beats US

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The federal government need extra British individuals to start out investing and will hardly have had a greater promoting marketing campaign handed to them, because the FTSE 100 – the index of the largest corporations listed on the London Inventory Trade – posted the most effective annual returns throughout 2025 for the reason that rebound from the monetary disaster.

In complete, the UK’s largest inventory market index gained 1,758.36 factors, or 21.5 per cent, from the final buying and selling day of 2024 to December 31 2025.

That’s compared to the 16.7 per cent positive factors made by the gathering of Europe’s largest corporations, the Stoxx 600, America’s S&P 500 which gained 17 per cent, and the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite which rose 21 per cent throughout the yr.

The sturdy positive factors realised by the British-listed contingent within the FTSE 100 have been notably notable amongst many mining firms, defence corporations and finance companies.

That got here regardless of the backdrop of political and financial uncertainty on each a home and international panorama all yr, which included the dramatic inventory market drops from Trump tariffs being introduced, the oil value shock as Iran threatened to shut the Strait of Hormuz, Rachel Reeves’ delayed Funds and a worryingly stagnant British economic system.

It marks a fifth-straight yr of positive factors for the FTSE 100 and means the index has risen in eight of the final ten years, although the standard positive factors are not often this outsized, as evidenced by this being the most effective yr since 2009 when it rose 22.1 per cent within the aftermath of the worldwide monetary crash.

During the last decade the FTSE 100 has averaged round 9 per cent positive factors, a far larger return for cash than financial savings accounts will sometimes supply – and a notable distinction when rates of interest are in decreasing cycles, as is the case now.

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Closing 2025 at 9,931.38, the index shot previous document excessive ranges on a number of events by means of the yr and teetered near surpassing the ten,000 mark for the primary time.

The yr’s success for the blue-chip index has meant it has outperformed European and US friends, together with France’s Cac 40 – whereas the positive factors have been roughly on par with Germany’s Dax.

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Buyers have been drawn to the regular positive factors of FTSE-listed corporations regardless of broader weaknesses within the UK economic system and political uncertainty prompting important volatility within the international inventory markets.

It was a very sturdy yr for valuable metallic producer Fresnillo, whose share value soared by about five-fold over 2025, whereas gold miner Endeavor Mining’s shares jumped by practically three-fold.

Defence corporations Rolls-Royce and Babcock additionally strengthened significantly throughout a yr the place geopolitical tensions continued to rise, with their share costs roughly doubling.

Financial institution shares additionally rallied amid elevated income and enterprise progress, with Lloyds Banking Group main the cost with its share value practically doubling because of regular positive factors over the course of the yr.

Inventory market turbulence got here to a head in early April when traders have been reacting to US president Donald Trump saying his plans to lift tariffs for nations around the globe on US imports. The FTSE 100 suffered its largest single-day decline for the reason that begin of the Covid-19 pandemic, as did Wall Avenue’s S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes, earlier than clawing again its losses and returning to progress.

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Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, mentioned the FTSE 100 “has had exactly the fitting elements desired by traders in a yr stuffed with political, commerce and market uncertainty”.

“This yr’s success for the blue-chip index just isn’t a flash within the pan,” he added.

“The FTSE 100 has delivered constructive returns in eight of the previous 10 years, averaging 9.1% yearly over that interval together with dividends. This type of efficiency reinforces the attraction of investing over the long run.

“There could also be years when efficiency disappoints, however historical past suggests it’s price pursuing.”

Regardless of the FTSE 100 strengthening, 2025 has additionally seen a raft of listed companies select to desert the London Inventory Trade (LSE) for overseas inventory markets or to be taken into non-public fingers.

Direct Line was delisted from the LSE after its takeover by rival Aviva in a £3.7 billion deal that created a serious power within the UK’s insurance coverage market.

Drinks maker Britvic was additionally snapped up by Carlsberg in the beginning of the yr, taking it off the inventory market and into the fingers of the Danish brewing big.

In the meantime, additional setbacks for the London market got here as drug maker Indivior introduced plans to delist from the LSE after shifting its major itemizing to the US’s Nasdaq final yr, and British fintech Clever mentioned it deliberate to modify its major itemizing from London to New York.

Corporations together with Royal Mail’s proprietor Worldwide Distribution Companies (IDS), Hargreaves Lansdown and industrial group Spectris have been amongst these to be taken non-public in high-value takeovers accomplished this yr.

Nonetheless, it was additionally a stronger yr for IPO exercise with 11 listings on the LSE in 2025, elevating complete proceeds of £1.9 billion – essentially the most since 2021, based on evaluation by PwC.

Further reporting by PA