Opening of the benchmark index of the Mexican Stock Exchange this February 16

Day without change for the Mexican S&P/BMV IPC index, which begins on Thursday February 16 with a variation of the 0.05%until the 53,397.40 points, after opening. As for the past days, the Mexican S&P/BMV CPI index changes the direction of the previous data, where it ended with an increase of 0.73%, unable to consolidate a clear trend in recent days.

Over the past seven days, the Mexican S&P/BMV CPI index has accumulated a rise of 1.13%Therefore, year-over-year, it still maintains a rise of 1.3%. The Mexican S&P/BMV IPC index is 3.2% below its maximum this year (55,164.01 points) and a 8.99% above its minimum price so far this year (48,993.24 points).

What is a stock index and what is it used for?

a stock market index It is an indicator that shows how the price of a certain set of assets is changingit therefore uses data from different companies or sectors of a market fragment.

These indicators are mainly used by the stock markets of different countries of the world and each of them can be integrated by firms with specific characteristics like having a similar market capitalization or belonging to the same type of company, there are also some indices that only consider a handful of stocks to determine their value or others that 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. Generally, 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. To carefully study how company stocks tended to rise or fall together, he created two indices: one that contained the 20 largest railway companies (as it was the largest industry at the time) , as well as 12 shares of other types of companies

There are currently various indices and they can unionize based on their geography, industries, company size, or even asset typeFor 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 is a stock index measured?

Each stock index has its own calculation method, but the main component is the market capitalization of each company that incorporates it. This is obtained by multiplying the value of the security 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 issued 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 start with a fixed value based on stock prices on their start date, but not everyone follows this method. Therefore, this may lead to inaccuracies.

If one index rises 500 points in one day, while another only gains 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 see that as a percentage, the gains of the second were higher.

The main stock market indices

Between the major US stock indices 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. Also DAX 30, the main German index containing the strongest 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 the asian continentwe have the Nikki 225, made up of the 225 largest companies on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. There is also the SSE composite index, which is listed as the most representative of China, consisting of the most important companies of 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 Outstanding Companies on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV). At least a third of them belong to 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.

Similarly, 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.