The biggest FTSE 100 stocks by market cap

By Swindon Link - 25 October 2022

Expert Voices

While the full outlook of the FTSE 100 is still uncertain, we review what the index is and the highest stocks by market cap.

What is the FTSE?

The Financial Times Stock Exchange Group, shortened to FTSE, is a UK-based financial organization that creates index offerings for local and global markets. The FTSE is owned by the London Stock Exchange (LSE), and their most well-known index is the FTSE 100.

The FTSE 100 is a share index of 100 companies listed on the LSE with the highest market capitalization - calculated by multiplying individual share value by the total number of shares released. Other well-known indices released by FTSE are FTSE 250 Index, FTSE All-Share Index, and the FTSE SmallCap index.

Top 5:

The London Stock Exchange updates its index of constituents every quarter, based on how the market cap of each stock changes. Let’s take a closer look at some of the top companies, based on data from June 2022:

1.   AstraZeneca

Becoming more prominent during the Covid-19 pandemic, AstraZeneca is a UK-based pharmaceutical company. The company also deals in biotechnology and was among the few world companies to reach advanced testing phases of the Covid-19 vaccine. As of June 2022, the market cap of AstraZeneca Plc was valued at £166,970m.

2.   Shell

Shell plc is the largest British oil and gas company, with headquarters in London. Considered one of the world’s oil and gas supermajors, Shell is also one of the largest companies in the world overall. Shell has been ranking in the top 10 of the Fortune global 500 ranking for over 20 years, and its current market cap exceeds £153,000m.

3.   HSBC Holdings

Even though HSBC Holdings plc is the largest UK-based bank not only in the United Kingdom, but Europe too, the company was first founded as the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank in 1865 in the then-British colony of Hong Kong. HSBC owns a network of almost 4,000 offices across 65 countries as of 2020, and its market cap in June 2022 was valued at £107,845m.

4.   Unilever

Even if you don’t know Unilever, you are likely to have many of its products, including Axe deodorants, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, Dove cosmetics and more. Unilever is one of the world’s largest consumer goods producers, with a market cap of over £95,300m in June 2022.

5.   GSK

You might remember GSK plc better under its former name - GlaxoSmithKline plc. This British pharmaceutical company was established in 2000 through a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham, and is now one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines producers. GSK’s market cap was valued at more than £89,000m in June 2022.

Buying/Selling FTSE 100 stocks using leverage

If you’re interested in trading on the FTSE 100 index, a way to do so is using a leveraged trading platform (discover more). Derivative financial instruments like CFDs involve trading capital, sometimes more than your deposited funds through the use of leverage, which means you only have to pay a certain percentage of the deposit.

Leveraged trading can create financial opportunities, but is also more risky than traditional trading. The leverage makes it much easier to open large positions, but the potential losses can also reach much further. Be careful when trading using derivative instruments and always implement a long-term risk management strategy to minimize potential losses.

DISCLAIMER: Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. The vast majority of retail client accounts lose money when spread betting and/or trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

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