The FTSE 100 finished 2016 at an all-time of 7,143 with the Lazarus-like revival of the natural resources catapulting the index 14% higher.
Of course, this was achieved against a backdrop of uncertainty from early summer on caused by the leave vote.
A delve into the archives reveals 2009 was the stand-out year for FTSE 100 in the last decade as it recovered from financial crisis.
After that only 2013’s performance betters what we’ve seen this year.
Top of the charts was Anglo American (LON:AAL), which, had you invested £1,000 at the start of January, would have returned you shy of £4,000 in capital gains.
It is fair to say the diggers were coming from a very low base.
They’d over-invested during the boom period, only to be left with debts that could cripple a developed economy.
The past two years have seen Anglo and its rivals Glencore (LON:GLEN), BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) go through a painful recapitalisation.
This has involved some fairly meaty rights issues, the sale of assets and a very much more parsimonious approach to investing in new projects.
At the same time the bulk commodities have really started to motor.
For instance, the iron ore price has more than doubled, while the copper price has also staged a recovery.
Watch: Zinc and copper still best of the base metals
The latest round of “price fixing” between Nippon Steel and the miners suggests coking coal is also set for a sharp upward spike in the first quarter of 2017.
The oil sector has undergone a similar shake-out to that seen in the mining industry and, similarly, is coming out the other end.
A spike in the crude price above US$55 a barrel and predictions it could hit US$60 early in the New Year thanks to the first cut to production in eight years helped propel Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSB) 52% higher.
BP (LON:BP), still labouring under the potential liabilities from the Deepwater Horizon explosion and spill in 2010, rose 44%.
The year was a good one too for ‘Drastic’ Dave Lewis, who was brought in to turn around the fortunes of Tesco (LON:TSCO), Britain’s largest grocer.
The market share data is improving as are the financial results, which is reflected in the company’s share price, which advanced 38%.
The surprise package in the sector was undoubtedly Morrisons (LON:MRW).
The price has advanced 56%, which must be causing certain City’s speculators a degree of pain given it is the most shorted stock on the FTSE 100.
One of the major Brexit winners was Ashtead (LON:AHT), the plant hire firm, which earns a big slug of its profits in dollars and is therefore a beneficiary of the weaker pound.
On the flipside of that particular coin were the likes of easyJet (LON:EZJ) and British Airways owner, International Consolidated Airlines (LON:IAG), which fell 42% and 28% respectively in the year.
They were buffeted further by the rising international terror threat, which, for easyJet in particular, made flights to Turkey and Egypt a tricky sell.
The retailers were also hit hard post-Brexit with the cost of importing goods on the rise as the result of the same currency factors that laid the airlines low.
Leading the sector laggards was Next (LON:NXT), which lost 32%, while Dixons Carphone (LON:DC) and Marks & Spencer (LON:MKS) were down 29% and 21% respectively.
Topping the losers’ list was Capita PLC (LON:CPI), which saw almost 60% of its value wiped out after issuing two profit warnings in three months.
Earlier this month it unveiled plans to offload businesses in order to reduce debts. It also said it would introduce robotics and automation to parts of the business in order to reduce costs.
So, what’s the outlook for 2017? Well, the experts are split.
The investment group AJ Bell reckons the FTSE 100 will not so much power, but putter higher – to 7,340 - which would represent a 4% year-on-year gain.
However, the Share Centre is taking a more pessimistic view of the UK stock market, without actually providing a year-end target.
“We suspect that UK growth in 2017 will be hampered by the uncertainty surrounding Brexit negotiations with market noise creating market volatility and capital flows,” said Sheridan Admans, head of research.
“The Brexit situation has meant corporations, both domestic and those that reside overseas with UK operations, have been deferring investment in UK PLC, which will likely put pressure on the jobs market and wage growth ahead.”