London’s benchmark stock index has finally returned to the level it stood at in February 2020 before the Covid-19 crisis sent global markets into one of the biggest panics ever seen. The FTSE 100 gained more than 1% on Wednesday morning after a two-day Christmas break, moving 50 points beyond the mark it was at just before the pandemic crash 22 months ago. It hit a high of 7,457.14 points before closing at 7,420.69, up 0.7%. The landmark came amid growing evidence that the Omicron coronavirus variant may cause less severe symptoms – although record daily UK case numbers meant Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland introduced new restrictions on Boxing Day. The FTSE 100 closed on Friday 21 February 2020 at 7,403.92. When it opened again on Monday 24 February it slumped by 3.3%, the first day of an unfolding market panic that had few precedents. The severity of the coronavirus outbreak was already clear by then in China but investors – not to mention politicians – had not yet appreciated the depth of the changes it would wreak on the global economy. The World Health Organization that day said the outbreak was not yet a “pandemic”. Yet Italy had just reported its seventh death from Covid-19, and lockdowns were in place in its northern regions, a sign of the wave of infections that was about to sweep through Europe and the rest of the world’s richest economies. China had announced its first lockdown a month earlier, on 23 January. From 21 February until its low three weeks later, the FTSE lost more than a third of its value, or 2,500 points. The 10.87% drop on 12 March 2020 was the biggest single-day loss since Black Monday in October 1987, and the second biggest in the index’s history. That became the biggest quarterly contraction in London-listed share values since 1987. It was also the fastest fall into a bear market – 20% below the previous high – ever seen on Wall Street. Yet from that low point markets surged back, thanks to a combination of extraordinary monetary stimulus from central banks such as the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England combined with a huge bout of government spending. US markets recovered much faster than those in the UK thanks to the abundance of giant New York-listed technology companies, whose dominance was cemented by people around the world working from home during pandemic lockdowns. By contrast, the UK’s FTSE 100 is dominated by old-economy stalwarts such as oil and gas companies, mining firms and banks. The technology sector represents only 1% of the FTSE 100 by market value, compared with 40% of the S&P 500, according to Refinitiv’s categorisation, which excludes other big tech-dependent gainers such as the electric carmaker Tesla. The global equity market rally has helped to bolster oil markets, which climbed to near one-month highs despite fears over recent weeks that the Omicron variant may bring a return of travel restrictions which would sap demand for transport fuels. The oil price climbed by more than 1% on Wednesday to just over $80 (£59) a barrel for the first time since late November, as traders turned their attention to data from the US which showed a slump in fuel stocks. Traders are also wary about crude supplies into the global market following a decision by the Opec oil cartel and its allies to keep a lid on their output through January, and production problems in countries including Ecuador, Libya and Nigeria. Travel stocks, which have proven particularly sensitive to coronavirus restrictions, served as a reminder that the pandemic is still likely to drag on some companies’ earnings. The British Airways owner, International Airlines Group, was the second-worst performer on Wednesday, down by 2.2%, while on the FTSE 250 holiday company Tui lost 6.1%. Oliver Males, an analyst at Spreadex, an online trading platform, said the falling value of UK travel stocks reflected record numbers of people infected with coronavirus in the US and much of Europe.