Many happy returns? The best and worst stocks of 2013

A mixed year for equity markets nonetheless ended on a high, with the FTSE 100 up over 12% year to date and the FTSE All Share 15% ahead, but which stocks thrived and which dived in 2013?

A year that was proclaimed as the great rotation into equities turned out to be more of a gradual shift, but stock markets certainly enjoyed the better of the returns. Although UK markets have retreated a little from recent highs as investors fret over the impact of tapering in the US, indices have still made double-digit returns, while smaller companies delivered much more. But which stocks have soared higher than competitors? Among the blue chips, the winners this year have been the airline operators, with both International Consolidated Airlines and easyJet topping the pile, more t...