The FTSE 100 index.

The FTSE 100 Index, better known as the "Footsie" is a share index of the 100 most capitalised companies of the United Kingdom listed on the London Stock Exchange, the LSE. FTSE stands for Financial Times Stock Exchange Index. When it first opened is had a 1000 points. Because of its succes, it has managed to reach a top op 6.950,6 points on 30 december, 1999. It is owned by the FTSE Group, and it considered as a measure of business prosperity.

The five largest companies of the FTSE 100 are;

BP(British Petrolium)- A British global energy company. It is the third largest energy company of the world, and the fourth largest company of the world.

HSBC(Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation)- It is incorporated in Britain in 1990. Nowadays it is the largest banking company of the world.

Vodafone- A British mobile network operator. It's market value of 71.2 billion pounds. It is the worlds second largest mobile phone operator right after China Mobile.

GlaxoSmithKline- A British healthcare company that was founded under the name GlaxoWellcome. It is the world second largest healthcare company.

Royal Dutch Shell- A petroleum company of Dutch and British origins. In 2009 Royal Dutch Shell was listed as the worlds largest company.

These are just the five largest, to name some other companies; Barclays, British Arways, Reed Elsevier, Thomas Cook Group, Unilever, Smiths Group and many other. After this you can imagine that the FTSE 100 is a very important index not just for the United Kingdom, but also for the rest of the world

The United Kingdom also has the FTSE 250, which is the index for the next largest 250 companies after the FTSE 100, and the FTSE 350, which is the aggregation of the FTSE 100 and the FTSE 250.