FTSE 100 at 8,000: the 25 stocks and 10 sectors responsible

At last, the UK’s premier stock market index has broken above the magic 8,000 mark. We reveal the companies and sectors that did the heavy lifting to get it here.

After years of watching the ups and downs of the FTSE 100 index, and speculating why and how it might hit 8,000, it finally broke above the magic number this week.

At times it seemed like it would never happen. The blue-chip index was trading at almost 7,700 just before Covid struck, but briefly fell below 4,900 at the height of the pandemic selling in March 2020. It took 13 months to get back above 7,000, since when the index has mostly traded between 7,000 and 7,700 apart from a number of brief excursions to 6,800 where there has been plenty of buying.

• Invest with ii: Share Dealing with ii | Open a Stocks & Shares ISA | Our Investment Accounts

Only four months ago the blue-chip index was in danger of falling below 6,700 amid concerns about inflation, interest rates, a cost-of-living crisis and geopolitical events including war in Ukraine. The subsequent rally is worth over 1,300 points, or almost 20%. Using closing prices rather than intraday levels, the FTSE 100 is up 17.2% between 12 October 2022 and 15 February 2023. Remember, the index was the only Western stock market to end 2022 in positive territory, compared with the S&P 500 down 19% and European indices down 10% or more.

This outperformance in the UK was something we at interactive investor identified as a possibility in an article on 11 October, the day before the FTSE 100 reached its low point and began its recovery. You can read the article here.

Now, many of the companies that appeared at the top of what we called the 50% Club – companies whose shares had fallen 50% or more up to that point in 2022 – are among the best performers since then. Aston Martin (LSE:AML), ASOS (LSE:ASC), Synthomer (LSE:SYNT), Ocado (LSE:OCDO) and Molten Ventures (LSE:GROW) were the worst stocks, having fallen between 73% and 82%. Since 12 October, they’re up 119%, 63%, 74%, 61% and 63% respectively. 

• Bombed-out cyclical stocks to own when the market turns
• Insider: three bosses back FTSE 100 companies with £300,000 share buy

While all but three FTSE 100 companies are in positive territory since 12 October – hang your heads in shame British American Tobacco (LSE:BATS), Diageo (LSE:DGE) and Reckitt Benckiser (LSE:RKT) – some stocks have contributed far more than others to get the FTSE 100 above 8,000.

25 biggest risers since 12 October 2022

Source: SharePad. *Data for close of business on 12 October 2022 to close of business on 15 February 2023.

It’s worth pointing out that while a number of the largest companies do not make it on to the table above, they will have made a sizeable contribution to performance given the FTSE 100 is a weighted index. This means that the biggest companies have a larger influence on the index's price movements than smaller ones.

So, while BP (LSE:BP.) only made it to 51 in the performance table with a 24.6% gain, it has an index weighting of 4.5%, so movements in its share price will have a more significant impact on movements in the FTSE 100 index. Shell (LSE:SHEL) was only 75th in the table with 13.7% upside, but its weighting is about 9%. AstraZeneca (LSE:AZN), the country's second-largest company with an index weighting in excess of 8%, was at number 68 with a 16.4% return.

Sector analysis

Sector data for the FTSE 350 index, which is up 17.8% since 12 October, also tells an interesting story, highlighting the dramatic turnaround within many cyclical industries. Here are the top 10 best FTSE 350 sectors over the past four months.

10 top sectors since 12 October 2022

Source: SharePad. *Data for close of business on 12 October 2022 to close of business on 15 February 2023.

It’s worth pointing out that the Travel & Leisure sector came in 11th on the list, reversing last year’s 18.7% loss to a 34.5% gain since 12 October.