Sectors Spread Betting


The CleanFinancial.com guide to trading sectors.

Trading Sectors

A sector is a group of businesses which offer related products or services e.g. Banks or Aerospace & Defense companies.

In the UK, sectors are normally made up of companies in the FTSE 350, i.e. sectors are typically made up of the 350 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.

FTSE 350 Sectors

The current FTSE 350 sectors are:

  • Aerospace & Defense
  • Alternative Energy
  • Automobiles & Parts
  • Banks
  • Beverages
  • Chemicals
  • Construction & Materials
  • Electricity
  • Electronic & Electrical Equipment
  • Equity Investment Instruments
  • Financial Services
  • Fixed Line Telecommunications
  • Food & Drug Retailers
  • Food Producers
  • Forestry & Paper
  • Gas, Water & Multiutilities
  • General Industrials
  • General Retailers
  • Health Care Equipment & Services
  • Household Goods & Home Construction
  • Industrial Engineering
  • Industrial Metals & Mining
  • Industrial Transportation
  • Leisure Goods
  • Life Insurance
  • Media
  • Mining
  • Mobile Telecommunications
  • Non-equity Investment Instruments
  • Nonlife Insurance
  • Oil & Gas Producers
  • Oil Equipment & Services
  • Personal Goods
  • Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology
  • Real Estate Investment & Services
  • Real Estate Investment Trusts
  • Software & Computer Services
  • Support Services
  • Technology Hardware & Equipment
  • Tobacco
  • Travel & Leisure
To check the current constituent companies, i.e. companies which make up a particular sector:

  1. Click LondonStockExchange.com Constituents
  2. For ‘Index’, select ‘FTSE 350’
  3. For ‘Industry sector’, select the sector you would like to check

Where Can I Trade FTSE 350 Sectors?

You can currently spread bet on FTSE 350 sectors with:

The above is subject to change and these firms are unlikely to offer every sector e.g. unpopular sectors like Forestry & Paper. If in doubt, check directly with the relevant broker.

You may also be able to trade stock market sectors with other providers.


Trading Euro Stoxx Sectors

As well as the above FTSE 350 sectors, investors can trade Euro Stoxx 600 sectors including:

  • EU Autos
  • EU Banks
  • EU Basic Resources
  • EU Chemicals
  • EU Construction and Materials
  • EU Energy
  • EU Financial Services
  • EU Food and Beverage
  • EU Health Care
  • EU Industrial Goods and Services
  • EU Insurance
  • EU Media
  • EU Personal and Household Good
  • EU Real Estate
  • EU Retail
  • EU Technology
  • EU Telecommunications
The above can be traded as quarterly futures markets with: Again, the above markets are subject to change and may be available elsewhere.

For more details on EU sectors see eurexchange.com.


About Sectors & Why Trade Sectors?

Sectors spread betting is a convenient way of taking a position on an entire industry by giving investors exposure to a basket of underlying stocks in a particular sector.

Sectors are groups of firms that all operate within the same industry. For example, companies such as Barclays, RBS, Lloyds and HSBC would all come under the Banking sector and are subject to the same general trading conditions and economic pressures as each other.

Even when a sector or industry is performing well, individual firms within the sector can perform poorly and so trading a whole sector, rather than individual stocks, can be an effective way of diversifying this risk.

As an example, if you think that the current outlook is upbeat for the Retail Sector, but you’re not sure which particular retail stock to buy, you could buy the General Retailers sector and therefore gain exposure to a group of the leading retail companies.


Individual Component Companies

For users who prefer to trade individual shares, we have created trading guides for the vast majority of FTSE 350 companies. For more details on a particular share see: