(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors) The last time the FTSE 100 hit a new closing high people were partying like it was 1999.
That's because it was 1999; the very end of 1999 in fact when the top-share index hit its all-time closing level of 6930.
Since then the Footsie has made a few assaults on a new peak and right now it is having another run at it having hit 6956 with less than 10 minutes of trading to go.
One of the reasons it has struggled to break on through to the other side is the heavy reliance the index has on mining companies which make up a sizeable chunk of the Footsie.
As any pub quiz maestro knows the FTSE 100 index has 102 stocks in it - the discrepancy comes because constituents and both have two classes of share - and of those seven are commodity plays.
The not so magnificent seven are: Randgold Antofagasta Glencore and .
If I wanted to get an email from its public relations firm I could lump platinum refiner in that list as well.
Although gold has had a decent run since November of last year as nervous investors seek a haven for their money the FTSE 350 mining index is down 15% over the last year.
Energy stocks have not fared much better with the FTSE 350 oil & gas producers index down 10% over the last year.
Seeing as () has the biggest weighting of any FTSE 100 constituent and () the fourth biggest that is a heavy drag on the index.
Enough of the excuses though; Footsie also benefits from something called "survivorship bias" which means only the successful companies make it into the blue-chip index while clunkers fall away.
A look at the index constituents of the Footsie when it reached its all-time high is like a trip down Memory Lane; a bad trip in some cases.
Gone or mutated into something else are the following:
Abbey National - subsumed into Santander Alliance & Leicester - ditto Allied Domecq - acquired by Pernod Ricard Allied Zurich - the owner of Eagle Star and Allied Dunbar ended its London listing BAA - under Spanish ownership Bank of Scotland - merged with Halifax then was rescued by Lloyds Six Continents - not gone as such just renamed InterContinental Hotels Blue Circle - taken out by Lafarge BOC - now part of the Linde Group Alliance Boots - went private. Now merged with in the US. - merged with Iberia to form IAG Cadbury - taken out by Kraft Foods Carlton Communications - merged with Granada to form CMG - acquired by Logica Corus - acquired by Indian conglomerate Tata - merged with Carphone Warehouse EMI Group - taken private Hanson - acquired by Heidelberg Cement Imperial Chemical Industries - bought by - now Schneider Electric Logica - bought by Canada's Marconi - formerly GEC it was put out of its misery and is now part of - taken private - now part of GDF Suez National Westminster Bank - part of Norwich Union - now Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company - P&O to you and me; bought by Dubai Ports World Powergen - now owned by E.On RT Group* - no I don't remember them either Reuters - subsumed into the Thomson Organisation the company that through its Datastream product provided this information on Footsie companies Scottish & Newcastle - divided up between Heineken and Carlsberg Scottish Power - a subsidiary of Iberdrola SEMA - acquired by Schlumberger SmithKline Beecham - merged with GlaxoWellcome Telewest Communications - merged with NTL and is now part of Thames Water - taken private by the Macquarie Group Woolwich - part of Santander
Looking at that list it is interesting to note the virtual disappearance of tech stocks from the Footsie; the dot.com bubble had yet to burst in 1999 but it did in spectacular fashion and now just () is hanging in there representing the world of geekdom.
Also noticeable is the disappearance of the former mutually owned building societies which found out a good deal about the capitalist system during the credit crunch.
Likewise a number of formerly taxpayer-owned companies from the utilities sector are now earning money for foreign owners.
With Greece now busy writing "I must not overspend" 10000 times at the behest of Germany in return for being granted an extension on its bailout deal and with US markets having apparently forgotten where reverse gear is it looks inevitable that Footsie will finally break new ground.
Then again we've said that on several occasions over the last 15 years or so.
* The good people at Thomson Datastream tell me that RT Group was formerly known as Railtrack.
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