UK FTSE 100 Stock Market Index

The FTSE 100 fell more than 0.5% on Wednesday while the British pound reached a fresh near 3-year high of 1.42 against the dollar, with financial and healthcare stocks such as HSBC Holdings, AstraZeneca, and GlaxoSmithKline the main laggards. Metro Bank was also down after announced a bigger-than-expected annual loss. On the other hand, Lloyds Banking Group profit beat forecasts and the bank also announced a dividend pay out and sales from Reckitt Benckiser also surprised on the upside. Globally, investors digest Fed Chair Powell dovish comments during his testimony before Congress on Tuesday. Historically, the UK FTSE 100 Stock Market Index reached an all time high of 7903.50 in May of 2018. The FTSE 100 Index is a major stock market index which tracks the performance of 100 most capitalized companies traded on the London Stock Exchange. FTSE 100 companies represent about 80 percent of the entire market capitalization of the London Stock Exchange. It is a free-float index. The FTSE 100 has a base value of 1000 as of January 3, 1984.