Big winners and losers of the year so far

Equity markets have done well in the first quarter of 2012. The FTSE 100 stood at 5,768 at the end of last week, off its mid-March high of 5,989, but still 3.5% up for the year to date. Three out of every four blue chips are showing gains.

Mid caps and small caps have done even better. The FTSE 250, which consists of the next largest 250 companies after the FTSE 100, and the Small Cap index have both risen by more than 14% since the start of the year.