FTSE Ends 2009 With 22% Rise

The FTSE 100 Index finished the year 22 per cent higher than it began 2009 - the best annual performance since 1997.

Britain's blue-chip stocks have gained despite ferocious turbulence on the financial markets, although the Footsie's close at 5412.9 is still 22 per cent lower than at the start of the decade, when it stood at a record 6930.

Most Asian markets made much larger gains, with China's Shanghai Composite Index up almost 80 per cent.

The London market had limped into the year after a record 31 per cent fall in 2008. The index hit a six-year low in March before measures from governments and central banks helped restore confidence.

Since then the market has been on an upward path as global economies gradually began returning to growth.

Mining firms were among the year's biggest winners, and the sector has been one of the driving forces behind the market recovery. Surging metal prices and a weaker U.S. dollar have all helped the industry.

Nationalised banks have been the high-profile losers. Royal Bank of Scotland was the worst FTSE 100 performer, according to figures from the investor website Digital Look, with a fall of more than 40 per cent.

Investors are now concentrating on whether the market can continue its climb.

Future stock movements are likely to be driven by both domestic and global prospects for the economy, while the UK has the added headache of a ballooning public deficit and a general election.

There are concerns over the potential for a hung parliament, which would create uncertainty as the country stumbles out of recession.