The top stocks in the FTSE 100

The City of London, home of the FTSE 100, skyline against a clear blue sky — (Image credit: Tim Grist Photography via Getty Images)

The FTSE 100, the UK’s flagship stock market index, made a strong start to 2026 but has stuttered in recent months following the outbreak of the war in Iran.

The index’s constituents feature consistently among the top stocks for retail investors, with household names like Rolls-Royce (LON:RR.) and Legal & General (LON:LGEN) topping the list of shares bought by investment platform Interactive Investor’s customers during April.

The FTSE 100 hit all-time highs early this year, breaking the 10,000 barrier for the first time on 2 January and peaking at just below 10,935 on 27 February.

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That date, not coincidentally, marked the last trading day before the outbreak of the war in Iran. Since then, the FTSE 100 has fallen 3.9% (as of market close on 27 May), with the conflict perceived as a headwind to both the UK economy and its flagship index.

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Figures released on 25 May by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), a trade body representing British businesses, showed that 80% of UK firms it surveyed reported an existing or expected impact from the Iran conflict.

“Higher energy bills, shipping disruption and the rising cost of raw materials are daily concerns for business,” said William Bain, head of trade policy at the BCC.

“Even if the current ceasefire soon signals the end of the conflict, the economic reverberations will be felt for many months to come,” he added.

It should be noted, though, that the UK economy and the FTSE 100 are not the same thing. FTSE 100 stocks are typically large, multinational companies whose revenue is derived mostly from overseas. As such the index’s performance isn’t necessarily correlated with that of the UK economy.

In fact, some of the largest FTSE 100 stocks are oil and gas majors that have profited from rising oil prices since the war’s outbreak.

So what are the top stocks in the FTSE 100, and should you consider investing?

The top FTSE 100 stocks by market cap

In terms of market capitalisation (market cap), these are the biggest stocks in the FTSE 100 as of 28 May:

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Company	Market cap (£ billion)
HSBC	241.3
AstraZeneca	217.3
Shell	174.5
Rolls-Royce	108.5
British American Tobacco	103.5
Rio Tinto	99.2
Unilever	94.0
BP	80.8
GSK	78.6
Glencore	67.4

^Source:^{London Stock Exchange}

At present, HSBC (LON:HSBA) is the largest stock in the FTSE 100, followed by pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca (LON:AZN).

The top-performing FTSE 100 stocks of 2025

Last year the FTSE 100 gained 21%, its best year since 2009 (the recovery following the global financial crisis), when it returned 22%.

Here are the top-performing FTSE 100 stocks of 2025:

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Company	Price gains during 2025
Fresnillo	453%
Airtel Africa	213%
Endeavour Mining	172%
Babcock International	148%
Antofagasta	106%
Rolls-Royce	102%
Standard Chartered	84%
Prudential	80%
Lloyds Banking Group	79%
Barclays	77%

^{Source: LSEG}

Fresnillo (LON:FRES), the world’s largest silver miner, led the FTSE 100 as its share price increased more than fivefold during the year, benefitting from a 147% increase in the price of silver. Endeavour Mining (LON:EDV) and Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) also cashed in on an excellent year for precious metals.

Defence stocks like Rolls-Royce and Babcock International (LON:BAB) also made the top 10 list, alongside resurgent financial stocks like Standard Chartered (LON:STAN), Prudential (LON:PRU) and Lloyds (LON:LLOY).

Should you invest in the FTSE 100?

While UK share price gains don’t always match the explosive rates of their American counterparts, FTSE 100 shares can be a good source of dividends and close the gap in terms of total returns.

“Fundamentally, the FTSE 100 can help provide ballast to an ISA or pension portfolio, particularly as the index has a rich source of dividends and a good mix of cyclical and defensive companies,” says Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.

“Holding UK equities alongside the US, emerging markets, Europe and others may be the best way to capture emerging winners, reduce your investment risk, and benefit from global megatrends,” says James McManus, chief investment officer at J.P. Morgan Personal Investing (formerly Nutmeg).

One easy way to invest in the FTSE 100 is buying a tracker fund such as the Vanguard FTSE 100 UCITS ETF (LON:VUKE).

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Dan is a financial journalist who, prior to joining MoneyWeek, spent five years writing for OPTO, an investment magazine focused on growth and technology stocks, ETFs and thematic investing.

Before becoming a writer, Dan spent six years working in talent acquisition in the tech sector, including for credit scoring start-up ClearScore where he first developed an interest in personal finance.

Dan studied Social Anthropology and Management at Sidney Sussex College and the Judge Business School, Cambridge University. Outside finance, he also enjoys travel writing, and has edited two published travel books.