Taiwan-weighted index closes Feb. 28

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

These indicators are mainly used by the stock markets of different countries of the world and each of them can be integrated by signatures with specific characteristics like having a similar market capitalization or being in the same type of industry, 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 a company. If investors are not confident, stock values ​​will tend to fall.

They are also working to measure the performance of an asset manager and they allow investors to have comparisons 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 see carefully how company stocks tended to rise or fall together in price, he therefore created two indices: one that contained the 20 largest railroad companies (since that was the largest industry at the time), as well as 12 shares of other types of companies

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 current value of the bond on the corresponding stock market by the total number of shares that are in the hands of the investors.

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 analyzing 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. So it can be confusing.

Between the major US stock indices is the Dow Jones Industrial Average, better known as the Dow Jones, of which 30 companies are part. 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 important companies of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange; there FTSE100 the London Stock Exchange; he CAC 40 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 most notable in China, consisting of the most important companies of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The same role played by 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 are part of the estate 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.

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.