The FTSE All Share index, representing the performance of all 627 eligible companies listed on the London Stock Exchange has finished the week at 3,107.99, an increase of 6.96 points during trading on Friday and 52.83 points higher than its 3,055.16 opening value at the start of last week.

So far this year the FTSE All Share index, which accounts for approximately 98% of the UK’s market capitalisation, has gone up 45.14 points from its’ opening price of 3062.85 at the start of trading on 4^th January 2011.

The FTSE All-Share Index is considered to be the best performance measure of the overall London equity market. Over the last 52 weeks the FTSE All Share index has fluctuated between 2,479 and 3,155.

The Bank of England (BoE) base rate is currently set at 0.5% (where it’s been since a reduction from 1.00% on 5^thMarch 2009).  The BoE monetary policy committee will meet this week to decide whether to keep rates on hold or increase them in order to try and get inflation under control.