They were the "dot.com" stocks of 100 years ago. Like the new technology companies attracting today's money, they were at the cutting edge of innovation.

Investors at the turn of the century had an equivalent of today's race for companies with Internet cachet when they clambered over each other to buy shares in the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company at its flotation in 1896.

"The Dunlop flotation was a sensation at the time, capitalised at £5 million [sterling] and vastly oversubscribed," said Ms Elizabeth Hennessy, a City historian.

The first shares in Dunlop were brought to the market just as demand was taking off for bicycles. Other companies connected to the industry included Humber and Singer, which jumped on the stock market bandwagon in the final days of the century.

In 1900, the nominal value of the 1,000 or so securities listed on the market was just under £9 billion - the value of one medium sized FTSE 100 company today.

Railways provided the backdrop to the booming stocks of the day. They were by far the largest sector of the market, accounting for nearly 50 per cent. Particularly popular were the American "railroad" companies which were working furiously to connect the vast continent. There were also hundreds of mining companies, particularly from South Africa but also from Australia which were dubbed "Westralians". Other household names such as Bovril, Whitbread and Lever Brothers proved popular investments.

The idea that Victorians were great investors in "traditional" manufacturing companies is overplayed. While the demise of the sector continues to be lamented by market commentators, it was not important 100 years ago either.

However, they were beginning to dabble in stocks that would now be considered part of the telecoms sector. It dominates today's market and accounts for approximately 20 per cent of the value of the top 100 stocks. These companies made up just 2 per cent of the market of a 100 years ago when the sector included the telegram company Reuters.

To illustrate the change, just one major railway stock is now listed among the top 100 companies - Railtrack - and it accounts for less than 0.5 per cent of the FTSE 100 index. The research also indicated that despite all the dot.com hype, IT stocks account for only 5 per cent of today's FTSE 100.

Banks then made up a large part of the market, as they do now. Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Bank and the Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation were among those listed on the stock market at the time. The banks' relative significance in the market, approximately 15 per cent, changed little over the century, as is the case for breweries and distillers, which included Guinness, Young & Co, Eldridge Pope, Whitbread and Schweppes among their numbers at the start of the century.

Textile companies, such as J & P Coats, now Coats Viyella, were important 100 years ago, although the sector has been eradicated from today's FTSE 100. However, the research indicated that the stock market of 100 years ago had yet to be joined by the oil and gas, pharmaceutical, media and information technology companies which are now so important.