How AIM took over the world during the pandemic

Watch how the UK's AIM market beat all the other major global stock market indices in the past year.

There was one place to be when the music stopped and global stock markets hit rock bottom in March 2020, and it wasn’t on Wall Street, Frankfurt or Mumbai. The best performing of the world’s major stock indices was in the UK, and it wasn’t blue chip, but the army of innovative, mostly smaller companies on the AIM market that generated the biggest profits for investors over the past year.

The FTSE AIM All Share was the only major index where you would have doubled your returns had you bought at its low point on 19 March 2020 and held on for 12 months. 

After passing its pre-Covid level in September, AIM is currently up about 23%. However, the Nasdaq Composite suffered less during the March crash, so returned to pre-pandemic prices three months earlier. It has gained an extra 33% since.

• The UK’s best-performing shares during the pandemic
• Lockdown one year on: best-performing funds and trusts
• Find out the latest FTSE 100 news and performance data here
• Check out our award-winning stocks and shares ISA

You would have made money backing the FTSE 100 too, but a 32% price return looks anaemic compared to most other regional markets. Once again, it demonstrates why investors are wise to use UK small-caps for diversification and to gain exposure to growth markets which large-cap indices miss.