FTSE 100 enjoys strongest ever quarter

The FTSE 100 index has posted the strongest quarterly performance in its 25-year history, gaining 21 per cent between July and September.

After starting July 1st at 4,249.1 points, the index of leading shares closed at 5,133.9 points today (September 30th) in a rally that has added £217 billion to the value of the UK’s 100 largest listed companies.

The FTSE’s previous best performance came in the final quarter of 1999, when it rose by 14.9 per cent during the dotcom boom.

Stock market historian David Schwartz told This is Money that he expects the index to finish the year at the 5,300 mark as more investors are encouraged to return to shares.

’I think this market on a broader basis has further to go,’ he told the news provider.

’We are already in a six-month bull market and if we look back at the last 100 years, bull markets tend to run for at least a year.’

The FTSE has now risen by 38 per cent during the past six months and by six per cent over the past year.
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