FTSE 100 ends record year with close just below 10,000
The FTSE 100 closed just below the record 10,000 in the final trading session of the year on Wednesday after a last-minute surge fizzled out.
After a record-breaking 41 new all-time highs this year, the index ended 2025 up 20.2 per cent at 9,931.
At the beginning of trading, it looked as if the index would come close to smashing another record, with embattled drinks maker Diageo leading the pack, up nearly one per cent.
It looked as if the drinks giant was set to end 2025 on a positive note after shares in the Guinness maker fell 36 per cent for the year.
However, stock gave up its gains later in the session to close broadly flat as Pershing Square took the top of the FTSE 100 leaderboard.
It was closely followed by Marks and Spencer (up 0.8 per cent) and British Land (up 0.6 per cent).
Blue-chip pharma behemoth Astrazeneca was also moving higher on Wednesday, with the stock jumping 0.3 per cent.
The market’s most valuable firm’s market cap has swelled to near £214bn this year, but after upgrading its listing on the other side of the Atlantic, the company’s primary listing no longer sits in London.
Miners hold the FTSE 100 back on the last trading day of the year
Mining stocks were holding the FTSE 100 back on the last trading day of the year.
The FTSE 350 mining index soared by over 222 per cent in 2025, driven by the surging price of precious metals amid geopolitical instability.
Fresnillo – which topped the index’s fallers on Wednesday at 2.3 per cent – enjoyed the largest year-long rally at a whopping 412 per cent.
The firm, which primarily operates in Mexico exploring, developing, and producing silver and gold, started the year with a stock price of 649.50p and ended at 3,300p.
“Could there be a fairytale ending to the year for London’s blue-chip index?” Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, said.
Hewson added the index was “tantalisingly close” to its next milestone, “which at the start of the year seemed inconceivable”.
The FTSE 100 sank to lows of 7679.48p in April this year as President Donald Trump launched his ‘Liberation Day’ tariff offensive on the US’s trading partners, sending global markets into a tailspin.
“After that ‘Liberation Day’ dip, which now feels so long ago, European markets have delivered a strong annual performance,” Hewson said.
T and, in its rally after Trump lifted tariffs, posted a 16-day win streak.
Since the beginning of the year, the index has climbed over 20 per cent.