Britain's FTSE 100 sets record high

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's blue-chip FTSE 100 share index <.FTSE> hit a record high of 6,958.89 points on Tuesday. The previous record for the index was an intraday high of 6,950.60 points set on Dec. 30, 1999. The index also posted a record close of 6,949.63, surpassing the previous record close of 6,930.20, also set on Dec. 30, 1999. Back then, Leeds United were top of the football Premier League, boy band Westlife was No. 1 in the charts and newspapers warned of possible worldwide computer malfunctions linked to the "Y2K" bug. Below are some facts about the FTSE, then and now: TOP NAMES, TOP SECTORS * The market capitalisation of the FTSE 100 constituents is currently 1.9 trillion pounds ($2.9 trillion), against 164 billion pounds in December 1985, the first available data. * The index is now less UK-focused. In 1999, miners made up just about 3 percent of the index weighting, compared to nearly 8 percent now. Today, oil companies make up about 15 percent of the FTSE 100, against about 12 percent in 1999, according to analysts and the London Stock Exchange. * Financial companies have the biggest weight of around 22 percent in the index now, while the weight of the technology sector is just over 1 percent. * The 2007-2008 financial crisis and corporate deal-making led to several companies leaving the index during that period: Logica, Misys Marconi, Corus, Woolwich, Abbey National, Alliance & Leicester, Thames Water Cadburys, EMI and P&O. * A fair number of constituents have changed their names too – Midland Bank (HSBC), Commercial Union Assurance (Aviva), Reckitt & Colman (Reckitt Benckiser) and British Gas (now BG Group and Centrica). * Consumer-goods firms have a stronger presence in the index now, accounting for around 15 percent of the index's weighting, against 5 percent in 1999. * Telecom services companies accounted for more than 18 percent of the index in 1999, against around 5 percent now, according to Hargreaves Lansdown. * Companies such as Aberdeen Asset Management , Babcock International Group , Tullow Oil and Weir Group have graduated from small-caps <.FTSC> to mid-caps <.FTMC> and then to large-caps. INDEX CREATION, EARLY YEARS * The FTSE 100 index was launched on Jan. 3, 1984 with a base level of 1,000, and replaced the FT30 as the main indicator for the performance of companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. * The index advanced for a record six years after its launch until 1989. It rose for 13 quarters in a row from mid-1994. The FTSE has fallen in 43 quarters and gained in 82 quarters since its launch. * The FTSE 100's biggest one-day percentage gain was a 9.8 percent rise on Nov. 24, 2008, after a federal rescue of Citigroup in the midst of the financial crisis, shortly after UK authorities had banned the short selling of banking stocks. Its biggest one-day fall of 12.2 percent was recorded on Oct. 20, 1987, the London fall-out from the "Black Monday" crash on Wall Street. * The index set a record closing low on July 12, 1984 when it fell to 978.70. * There has only been one day when the index was not calculated – Friday Oct. 16, 1987, the day after a hurricane brought chaos to London and the south of England. The index did not operate because not enough market practitioners made it into work to open share prices on the London Stock Exchange trading system. * According to Thomson Reuters data, 1989 was a record year for the FTSE 100 index as it posted a more than 35 percent gain. Its worst yearly performance was at the height of the global financial crisis in 2008 when it fell 31 percent. UK ECONOMIC INDICATORS * In December 1999, the Bank of England interest rate was 5.5 percent - a far cry from the record lows of 0.5 percent that have been in place since March 2009. * The pound has weakened slightly against the dollar since December 1999, as it was worth 1.64 dollars in December 1999, compared to 1.55 dollars now. However, it has been as strong as 2.12 dollars and fallen to 1.35 dollars since that time. * CPI inflation was 1.1 percent in December 1999, compared to 0.3 percent now. * The yield on 10-year government bonds, or "gilts", was around 5.5 percent in December 1999, and has fallen to 1.76 percent in February 2015. * GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 1999 was 1.3 percent. Fifteen years later, quarterly growth was just 0.5 percent. * Unemployment is now 1.86 million - in December 1999 it was 1.7 million. The population is 64.1 million, up from 58.7 million in 1999. * UK inflation, unemployment and base rate http://link.reuters.com/sub42v * UK real GDP and labour productivity http://link.reuters.com/jed42v (Reporting by Stock Markets team; Editing by Lionel Laurent and Susan Fenton)