MARKET COMMENT
Top Ten FTSE Dictators

By Maynard Paton (TMFMayn)
January 7, 2004

During 2003, the FTSE 100 added 537 points to close 14% higher at 4,478. However, the performance of the blue chip index was once again dictated by a handful of heavyweights. This table reveals the ten biggest points gainers of last year:

Providing 337 Footsie points, the ten shares represented 63% of the index's 2003 gain. In fact, the top five shares contributed 245 points, representing some 46% of last year's move.

Of the ten largest companies at the start of last year, only Shell (LSE: SHEL) and Lloyds TSB (LSE: LLOY) didn't make the points list (their stagnant share price performances equated to less than 3 points in total). The rather pedestrian progress of BP and GlaxoSmithKline seemed to hold back London's benchmark index, too.

Not only did a handful of individual shares generate most of the points, certain sectors were the centre of attention as well. Banks, pharmaceuticals and miners (Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) was eleventh in the list) were particular favourites of the index tracker in 2003. Something else worth noting is the modest influence on the FTSE 100 by some of last year's great recovery stories. Cable & Wireless (LSE: CW.) for instance, up 124% last year, contributed just seven points to the 2003 performance.

And for 2004? Expect many of same heavyweights to again dictate the FTSE 100's performance. These were the weightings of the blue chip index at the start of this year:

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The author owns shares in GlaxoSmithKline.