FTSE All-Share Index: Price, Chart, Companies & Performance

The FTSE All-Share Index does more heavy lifting for UK investors than any other benchmark—covering roughly 600 companies that together represent over 98% of the UK equity market’s capital value. Whether you’re tracking a pension, a tracker fund, or the evening news, this index is the yardstick that defines how “the market” performs.

Current Value: 5,557.81 · 52-Week Range: 4,628.77 – 5,851.48 · Recent Change: -0.09% · Constituents: around 600

This snapshot pulls together the key metrics that define the index at a glance.

What companies are in FTSE All Share?

The FTSE All-Share Index isn’t a single list—it aggregates three separate indices: the FTSE 100, the FTSE 250 (together called the FTSE 350), and the FTSE SmallCap Index (Wikipedia). This layered structure means the index captures everything from household names like AstraZeneca and Shell down to smaller companies that most retail investors have never heard of.

Key constituents list

As of 31 December 2024, four companies carried market capitalisations exceeding £100 billion: AstraZeneca, Shell, HSBC, and Unilever (Wikipedia). These four giants alone accounted for approximately 24% of the entire index’s market capitalisation—meaning a handful of companies can move the headline number significantly.

Sector breakdown

The index spans 11 industry sectors under the Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB) system (Wikipedia). Five of these sectors had market capitalisations exceeding £250 billion as of 31 December 2024: Financials, Industrials, Consumer Staples, Consumer Discretionary, and Health Care. Combined, these five sectors represent roughly 76% of the index’s capitalisation (Wikipedia).

What is the average return of the FTSE all share?

Long-term investors in UK equities typically track the FTSE All-Share for its broad exposure to the market. The index launched on 10 April 1962 with a base level of 100, meaning any current figure above 5,500 represents more than 55 times the original value over six decades—before accounting for dividends reinvested along the way (Wikipedia).

Tracker funds designed to replicate the FTSE All-Share have become popular vehicles for long-term investors seeking broad UK market exposure.

FTSE Russell describes the index as the “best performance measure of the London equity market”—meaning it’s the standard against which fund managers and other indices are judged.

When comparing any UK-focused investment, the FTSE All-Share is the obvious baseline.

What is the FTSE All-Share index price today?

At the time of writing, the FTSE All-Share Index stood at 5,557.81, down 4.97 points or -0.09% in the most recent session. The index has traded between 4,628.77 and 5,851.48 over the past 52 weeks—representing a range of roughly 1,223 points between the low and the high.

The current index value and daily movements are available through financial data providers, brokerage platforms, and the London Stock Exchange website.

Market movements in the FTSE All-Share reflect the combined performance of its roughly 600 constituents. When large-cap companies like AstraZeneca or Shell move sharply, they have disproportionate influence on the headline index value—reinforcing why looking at the index alone doesn’t tell you how the average UK company is performing.

A -0.09% daily move looks small on paper, but the cap-weighted structure means the largest companies dominate the calculation. If AstraZeneca, Shell, HSBC, and Unilever are flat while smaller constituents fall 2%, the index might show minimal change while the typical stock in the index is doing much worse.

What is the FTSE all share index chart?

Charts of the FTSE All-Share Index show price movements over time, giving investors a visual sense of volatility, long-term trends, and seasonal patterns. Whether you’re looking at a 5-year daily chart or a 30-year monthly view, the trajectory since the 1962 base date reveals a market that has generally rewarded long-term holders despite significant downturns.

Long-term charts of the FTSE All-Share reveal periods of sustained growth punctuated by sharp drawdowns—the dot-com crash, the 2008 financial crisis, and the 2020 pandemic all show up as steep valleys. What the charts also show is recovery: every major downturn in the index’s history has eventually been followed by new highs.

The implication: charts are useful for context, but the index’s cap-weighted structure means mega-cap moves dominate the headline figure more than broader market health.

What are FTSE All Share Index funds and ETFs?

For investors who want to own the FTSE All-Share without picking individual stocks, tracker funds and ETFs offer a straightforward solution. These vehicles aim to replicate the index’s performance by holding representative samples of the constituents in roughly the same proportions as the index itself.

Popular tracker funds

UK investors have access to several index-tracking funds that target the FTSE All-Share, offered by providers including Vanguard, iShares, and Legal & General. These funds typically charge ongoing annual fees well below 0.20%, making them among the cheapest ways to get diversified UK equity exposure.

Investment options

Tracker funds are available through tax-advantaged wrappers like ISAs and SIPPs, as well as through standard brokerage accounts. ETFs that track the FTSE All-Share can be traded like individual stocks throughout the trading day, offering more flexibility than traditional tracker funds but with slightly higher transaction costs.

For most UK investors building long-term wealth, a FTSE All-Share tracker in an ISA or SIPP is a practical starting point. Low fees mean more of the market’s gains stay in your pocket over time—making these vehicles particularly effective for retirement portfolios where compounding matters most.

FTSE Russell describes the index as the best performance measure of the London equity market.

— FTSE Russell (index publisher and subsidiary of London Stock Exchange Group)

The FTSE All-Share Index is a capitalisation-weighted index maintained by FTSE Russell, a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange Group.

— Wikipedia (FTSE All-Share Index)

The practical implication for most UK investors is straightforward: if you’re looking for a single measure of how the UK stock market is performing, this is it. The index’s breadth—spanning roughly 600 companies across 11 sectors—gives it a credibility that narrower indices like the FTSE 100 simply can’t match. But that breadth comes with its own trade-offs. Because it’s cap-weighted, a handful of mega-cap companies exert outsized influence, meaning the headline number can flatter or mislead depending on what’s happening below the surface.

If you want to track how the average UK company is performing rather than how a handful of giants are moving, you’ll need to look beneath the headline figure—perhaps by examining sector breadth or the proportion of stocks trading above their 200-day moving averages. For related context, see the Coca-Cola Share Price as an example of how individual blue-chip stocks can diverge from index performance.

Related reading: Coca-Cola Share Price

Frequently asked questions