Hang Seng gained ground after operations ended on February 16

Climbing session for the Hang Seng (Hong Kong)which closed the session of Thursday, February 16 with slight increases in the 0.84%until the 20,987.67 dots. He Hang Seng (Hong Kong) scored a maximum volume of 21,306.54 dots and a minimum volume of 20,887.70 dots. The trading range for the Hang Seng (Hong Kong) between its highest point and its lowest point (maximum-minimum) during this day, it was at the 1.97%.

Compared to the profitability of the last seven days, the Hang Seng (Hong Kong) accumulated a drop of 2.94%therefore, last year, there is still a decrease in the 13.74%. He Hang Seng (Hong Kong) is located 7.5% below its maximum this year (22,688.90 points) and a 4.18% above its minimum valuation so far this year (20,145.29 points).

Stock market indices… What for?

a stock market index It is an indicator used to show the price movement of a certain set of assets.for which you need to have data from various companies or sectors in a part of the market.

These indicators are mainly used by the exchanges of each country and each of them can be integrated by companies with specific characteristics such as having a similar market capitalization or belonging to the same industry, furthermore, some indices only consider a handful of stocks to determine their value or others which consider hundreds of stocks.

Stock indices serve as indicator of confidence in stock market, business confidence, health of national and global economy and stock investment performance and shares of the company. If investors are not confident, stock prices tend to fall.

They are also working to measure the performance of an asset manager and they allow investors to make a comparison between profitability and risk; measure the opportunities of a financial asset or create portfolios.

These types of indicators began to be used at the end of the 19th century after the journalist Charles H. Dow. carefully observed how the stock prices of companies tended to rise or fall together, so he created two indices: one containing the 20 largest railway companies (since this was the largest industry in the world). era), as well as 12 shares of other types of companies

Currently, in humanity, there are various indices and they can agglomerate according to their geography, their sectors, the size of the companies or the type of assetFor example, the American Nasdaq index is made up of the 100 largest companies mainly related to technology such as Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), Facebook (FB), Alphabet (GOOG), Tesla (TSLA ), Nvidia (NVDA), PayPal (PYPL), Comcast (CMCSA), Adobe (ADBE).

How to read an index?

Each stock index has its own way of being measured, but the main component is the market capitalization of each company that incorporates it. This is obtained by multiplying the daily value of the bond on the corresponding stock market by the total number of shares that are on the market.

Listed companies are required to present a balance sheet of its composition. This report must be made public every three or six months, as the case may be.

Reading a stock market index also means being attentive to its evolution over time. Current indices always open at a fixed value based on stock prices on their start date, but not everyone follows this method. Therefore, it can be misleading.

If one index adds 500 points in one day, while another only adds 20, it may seem that the former has performed better. However, if the first started the day at 30,000 points and the other at 300, we can deduce that in percentage terms the gains for the second were greater.

The main stock market indices

Between the main stock indices of the American Union is the Dow Jones Industrial Average, better known as the Dow Jones, made up of 30 companies. Likewise, the S&P500, which includes 500 of the largest companies on the New York Stock Exchange. Finally comes the Nasdaq 100which includes 100 of the largest non-financial companies.

On the other hand, the most important indices of Europe are the Euro Stoxx 50, which covers the 50 largest companies in the euro area. On the other hand, the DAX 30, the main German index containing the most outstanding companies on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange; there FTSE100 the London Stock Exchange; he CAC40 of the Paris Stock Exchange; and the IBEX 35of the Spanish stock exchange.

In Asiawe have the Nikki 225, made up of the 225 largest companies on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. There is also the SSE composite index, is considered the strongest in China, consisting of the most important companies on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Also, it is worth mentioning the Hang Seung Index in Hong Kong and the KOSPI in South Korea.

As it concerns Latin Americayou have the IPCwhich contains the 35 Most Powerful Companies on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV). At least a third of them belong to the capital of tycoon Carlos Slim.

Another is the Bovespa, composed of the 50 most important companies of the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange; he Merval from Argentina; he IPSA From Chile; he MSCI COLCAP Columbia; he IBC of Caracas, made up of 6 companies from Venezuela.

Finally, there are other types of global stock indices such as the MSCI Latin Americawhich includes the 137 most important companies from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

Likewise, there is MSCI World, which brings together 1,600 companies from 23 developed countries; he MSCI Emerging Markets, made up of more than 800 companies from developing countries; and the S&P Global 100made up of the 100 most powerful multinational corporations on the entire planet.