UK’s FTSE 100 share index records best year since 2009 – as it happened
Britain’s stock market has recorded its strongest annual gains since 2009, after a strong year for shares on the London stock exchange and beyond,The FTSE 100 index of blue-chip equities has just closed for the year, down slightly today at 9,931 points, a fall of 9 points or 0,09%,But for 2025 as a whole, the Footsie has gained 21,5%, its highest annual gain in 16 years.
Mining stocks, defence companies, and banks were the best-performing sectors of the economy this year, as the UK market rose faster than Wall Street.Time to wrap up for day, and indeed for the year.Here’s a quick recap:Britain’s stock market has increased in value by a fifth over 2025 – its biggest annual gain since 2009 in a strong year for shares around the world.The FTSE 100 index of blue-chip stocks closed up 21.5% on New Year’s Eve compared with the start of January.
The wider all-share market was 19.75% higher.The precious metal producer Fresnillo was the top performer – its shares have soared by 450% in 2025, boosted by record prices for gold and silver.Its rival, Endeavour Mining, gained 170%.The telecommunications company Airtel Africa was the second-fastest riser, up 210%.
Defence company stocks also surged as Europe boosted its spending on weapons amid the Russia-Ukraine war and pressure from Donald Trump on Nato allies to spend more on defence.And that’ll until 2026.Have a lovely New Year! GWAlthough Eurostar’s services have been getting back to normal after yesterday’s power outage, tales of travel woe continue to flood in.Emma, 45, from Manchester, boarded a train at Calais to travel to Folkestone with her husband and six-year-old daughter, at about 10.20am and was stuck for five hours before they got moving.
They were on their way back to Manchester via Folkestone,“If we had known, we would have got the ferry instead,” she told us yesterday,“But we were stuck and couldn’t go anywhere,We hadn’t been given any information,The train started moving at 15:45 CET, but we had to cancel our plans for the afternoon and evening as we were due to see family.
“We were in our car on the train, so we didn’t really see anyone very much, but people who walked past seemed calm.“Our daughter was really upset.She was hungry and got quite scared as we were just in the train and couldn’t see daylight, and I couldn’t solve anything (with food or a walk about).She does not cope well with changes to the plan that I’ve set out for the day, so it all got really stressful.“We really wish we hadn’t been put on the train, as we could have at least got the ferry or stayed somewhere for the night.
“The lack of information was the worst bit.We felt we’d be on the train for the night at one point, and there is no one you can ask when you’re just sitting in your car.“We’re staying the night in Cambridge with a large gin now to recover.”Elsewhere on Wall Street, the US president’s Trump Media & Technology Group have today launched five exchange-traded funds (ETFs).The new Truth Social ETFs are joining the New York Stock Exchange, and will track US publicly listed companies with a “Made in America” focus, covering industries from energy and utilities to defense, technology and real estate.
The ETFs are the Truth Social American Security & Defense ETF (TSSD), the Truth Social American Next Frontiers ETF (TSNF), the Truth Social American Icons ETF (TSIC), the Truth Social American Energy Security ETF (TSES) and the Truth Social American Red State REITs ETF (TSRS).ETFs are a popular way of getting exposure to a sector, without having to pick individual stocks….Wall Street has started the final trading day of the year cautiously.The Dow Jones industrial average is down 71 points, or 0.15%, at 48,295 points, with the broader S&P 500 index down 0.
18%,The year is ending with some encouraging employment data from the US,Applications for US unemployment benefits fell last week to one of the lowest levels this year,The number of fresh “initial claims” for joblessness support decreased by 16,000 to 199,000 in the week ending 27 December, according to Labor Department data,Some positive signs for the labour market at the end of the year, with initial jobless claims falling below 200k and continuing claims also lower than they have been for most of the past six months pic.
twitter.com/KJAK6pEarBIt was a bumper year for stock markets globally and the surprise, perhaps, is that the FTSE 100 index more than kept up, my colleague Nils Pratley writes.The London market has sometimes been derided as lacking dynamism – the hedge fund manager Paul Marshall called it the “Jurassic Park” of exchanges a few years ago – but its main index enjoyed its best 12 months since 2009.The Footsie didn’t quite make it to the round number of 10,000 but still improved by 21.5%, slightly outperforming the S&P 500 index in the US.
How did that happen amid weakening UK growth, pre-budget chaos and general gloom? The short answer is that a stock market index reflects only its constituent parts.It is not a symbol of national economic virility.That is especially true of the internationally flavoured Footsie, whose members make about three-quarters of their combined revenues overseas.The tale of 2025 was one of helpful breezes blowing through many of the most important sectors.Defence stocks enjoyed commitments by Nato’s western European members to spend more heavily on equipment.
That assisted companies such as Rolls-Royce, whose remarkable run has taken the shares from sub-100p in 2022 to £11-plus today,Banks have had near-perfect conditions of low defaults and falling interest rates,The bill (for some) from the car finance scandal was brushed off easily…,More here,Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, said the FTSE 100 “has had precisely the right ingredients desired by investors in a year full of political, trade and market uncertainty”.
He added:“This year’s success for the blue-chip index is not a flash in the pan.“The FTSE 100 has delivered positive returns in eight of the past 10 years, averaging 9.1% annually over that period including dividends.“This kind of performance reinforces the attraction of investing over the long term.“There may be years when performance disappoints, but history suggests it’s worth pursuing.
”Precious metal producer Fresnillo was the top FTSE 100 performer this year – its shares have soared by 450% during 2025, boosted by record prices for gold and silver.Rival Endeavour Mining gained 170%, with telecommunications firm Airtel Africa the second-fastest riser, up 210%.As the FTSE 100 is dominated by multinational companies, it isn’t a great gauge of the health of the UK economy.The FTSE 250 index, which contains more UK-focused companies, is a better guide to the domestic economy.It has just posted a 9% gain for 2025.
Britain’s stock market has recorded its strongest annual gains since 2009, after a strong year for shares on the London stock exchange and beyond.The FTSE 100 index of blue-chip equities has just closed for the year, down slightly today at 9,931 points, a fall of 9 points or 0.09%.But for 2025 as a whole, the Footsie has gained 21.5%, its highest annual gain in 16 years.
Mining stocks, defence companies, and banks were the best-performing sectors of the economy this year, as the UK market rose faster than Wall Street,2026 could bring new fiscal challenges to Argentina,According to Bloomberg, with just five trading days left ahead of a crucial 9 January deadline, Argentina’s Treasury only has $1,9bn of the $4,3bn it owes.
They add:Economy Minister Luis Caputo still has options though as he looks to scrape together the rest.They include a possible repurchase agreement — effectively a loan — with Wall Street banks or potentially tapping Argentina’s $20 billion swap line with the US Treasury Department.For now, Caputo has downplayed the likelihood of selling bonds abroad in January.
Huge rise in number of people in England’s A&Es for coughs or hiccups
Millions of people are turning to A&E departments in England for minor ailments including coughs, blocked noses and hiccups, according to data that health leaders say lays bare a failure to give patients prompt access to primary care.Emergency wards are designed for serious injuries and life-threatening emergencies only. But many are becoming swamped with patients whose health concerns should be dealt with elsewhere, including a near tenfold increase in people seeking help for a cough.A&E attendances for hiccups, dizziness and a myriad of other minor conditions have also soared. The trend of patients heading to emergency departments with non-emergency symptoms is underlined by the fact that doctors found nothing wrong with more than 2 million A&E patients in 2024-25
‘Absolutely frightening’: surge in ketamine cases hits urology wards in England and Wales
Experts have warned that urology departments across England and Wales could be close to breaking point as ketamine-related hospital admissions have “skyrocketed” in the past few years.Ketamine, a class B dissociative drug used for pain relief and sedation, is increasingly used recreationally in England and Wales. It is one of only three drugs, alongside magic mushrooms and hallucinogens, to have become used more regularly since 2015.Recent data from the Office for National Statistics shows that ketamine usage, while down slightly from the previous year, is still high. The numbers who say they have used the drug in the past month has increased by 251
Offenders in England and Wales to have alcohol levels tracked over new year period
Thousands of offenders in England and Wales will have their alcohol levels tracked over the new year festive period by electronic tags that monitor the wearer’s sweat.The tags, which are now worn by 5,000 people who have been released from prison or who are serving a community sentence, are designed to keep criminals sober over the festive season and drive down drink-fuelled reoffending.The deputy prime minister and secretary of state for justice, David Lammy, said: “Alcohol-driven crime causes real harm to victims and communities, and piles extra pressure on our emergency services. Tackling it head-on is vital to make our streets safer.“These tags act as a physical and constant reminder to offenders that there’s no room for slip-ups – one drink and they could find themselves back in court or even behind bars
Two new subtypes of MS found in ‘exciting’ breakthrough
Scientists have discovered two new subtypes of multiple sclerosis with the aid of artificial intelligence, paving the way for personalised treatments and better outcomes for patients.Millions of people have the disease globally – but treatments are mostly selected on the basis of symptoms, and may not be effective because they don’t target the underlying biology of the patient.Now, scientists have detected two new biological strands of MS using AI, a simple blood test and MRI scans. Experts said the “exciting” breakthrough could revolutionise treatment of the disease worldwide.In research involving 600 patients, led by University College London (UCL) and Queen Square Analytics, researchers looked at blood levels of a special protein called serum neurofilament light chain (sNfL)
A&Es in ‘big trouble’ because of ‘normalised’ corridor care, says leading UK medic
Emergency departments across the UK are “in big trouble” owing to the way corridor care has been “normalised”, a leading medic has warned.Dr Ian Higginson, the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM), said there should be “howls of outrage” over deaths linked to long emergency department waits, with just a few hospitals around the UK managing to avoid caring for patients on trolleys in corridors.Patients are now “not surprised” when they are cared for in a corridor because the problem is so widespread – yet doctors “can’t deliver care” this way, Higginson told PA Media.Earlier this year, the RCEM released estimates that suggested there were more than 16,600 deaths of patients linked to very long waits in A&E for a hospital bed last year – the equivalent of about 320 deaths a week. “If we had 16,000 patients a year dying in bus crashes or in aircraft crashes or anywhere else there would be such howls of outrage something would be done about it
From Adolescence to the manosphere: has 2025 been the year of the boy?
The prime minister said it was a “really hard watch”, while a British police force said it should be a “wake-up call for parents”. The Netflix drama Adolescence – which tells the story of a 13-year-old boy arrested for killing a female classmate – was hailed from the school gates to the Houses of Parliament for shedding a spotlight on the toxic influence of the manosphere.But the national conversation did not end with the final episode of the much-discussed drama. A series of high-profile campaigns, conversations, policy shifts and research have resulted in a sense that 2025 has been the year of the boy.At the start of the year the former England football manager Gareth Southgate warned about the dangers of “callous, manipulative and toxic influencers”, while Lost Boys, a study from the Centre for Social Justice, argued that “boys [were] being left behind” from educational attainment to mental health
ITV agrees to invest £3m in fitness app created by Joe Wicks
London stock exchange beats Wall Street with best FTSE 100 year since 2009
Elon Musk’s 2025 recap: how the world’s richest person became its most chaotic
The office block where AI ‘doomers’ gather to predict the apocalypse
Damien Martyn, former Australian Test cricketer, in induced coma with meningitis
From Matildas magic to Winter Olympic wonders: Australia’s sporting highlights for 2026