15 years ago to the day, the 30th of December 1999 the UK’s flagship index FTSE-100 closed at an all-time high of 6930.2

Today the FTSE is at about 6594.91.

Going back and looking at the FTSE-100 in December 1999, we were coming to the peak of the Telecoms and Technology Bubble. Looking back this it was a purely speculative bubble. Remember those days, when companies made little profit, burnt cash with little regard for shareholders and were given crazy valuations ?

Remember these iconic names:-

Baltimore Technologies
PSION PLC
Thus
Energis
GEC

Justin Urquart Stewart who at the time was the face of Barclays Stockbrokers (now at Seven Investment Management fame) called the FTSE-100 an “Drug related Financial Call Centre” due to index been driven by Pharmaceutical, Telecoms and Financial companies.

Today the FTSE is a very different index, dominated by the giant five, HSBC, BP, Shell, GlaxoSmithKline and Vodafone, with BHP Biliton and Rio Tinto in close pursuit.