1 year on from 2009 bottom, FTSE 100 rallies 62%

Joshua Raymond, Market Strategist, City Index commented: "European markets fell on Tuesday as investors decided to take some profits off the table after the last month's trading saw the FTSE 100 rally 11% and the DAX and CAC both rose 8% and 10% respectively.

European equities sold off into the close yesterday and after a half hearted session in the US and Asia, investors have come in to secure their gains in case the markets start to consolidate.

The miners are the main sector that is dragging down European Indices. Investors have seen some good gains within the miners of late and so this is naturally a target for profit taking. Weaker commodity prices have also triggered further weakness in commodity equities.

Trade Deficit weighs

UK Trade Deficit figures widened unexpectedly to £7.987bn, much deeper than the market had expected and this has had a negative affect on equities and the pound sterling today. The deficit now stands at its widest since August 2008 and will inevitably put more question marks on how the UK recovery will look.

The surprise sharp contraction in RICS British house price growth has been also been a bit of a lag on today's activity.

1 Year on from the March 9th 2009 bottom

It is now one year since the last bottom was reached in the FTSE 100 at 3460.71. Since then, the FTSE 100 has risen over 62% to Mondays high, which is quite a return. There have been some really fantastic plays over the last year if you had got on the right side on the trend. Barclays is an excellent example where share prices have risen almost 620% from a low of 47.3p reached in January last year. Kazakhmys shares have had a terrific run too, rallying almost 560% whilst rival BHP Billiton shares have also rallied a healthy 113% since the 2009 bottom was reached. 

It certainly feels like the tremendous bouts of volatility and uncertainty in the markets from the days of the Lehman failure has surpassed and the subsequent bull market of the last year has done much to repair the damage done to investor confidence. However, many traders still have the scars to show for their troubles over the last two years and with Greece's debt situation far from resolved, a potential hung parliament in the UK to come and future UK GDP figures still uncertain, we are not out of the woods just yet."