The Indian market opened its operations with a downward trend on February 17

bad day for him Crafty 50which opens the day of Friday, February 17 with slight decreases in the 0.41%until the 17,962.80 points, after the start of the opening session. In relation to the variations of this day compared to the previous days, the Crafty 50 ends three consecutive sessions with a positive trend.

Regarding last week, the Crafty 50 gets a raise 0.6%so that in the last year it still accumulates a rise of 6.65%. He Crafty 50 is located 1.48% below its maximum this year (18,232.55 points) and a 2.04% above its minimum valuation for the current year (17,604.35 points).

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

a stock market index is an indicator that shows how the value of a set of assets is changingit therefore collects data from several companies or sectors of a market fragment.

These indicators are mainly used by the stock markets of various countries and each of them can be integrated by companies with certain 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 an entity. 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 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 carefully analyze how company stock prices tended to rise or fall together, he created two indexes: one that contained the 20 largest railway companies (as it was the most important industry in the era), as well as 12 shares of other types of companies

Today there are various indices and they can partner based on geography, industries, company size, or even asset typeFor example, the U.S. Nasdaq index is made up of the 100 largest companies with broad technology connections 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 factor is the market capitalization of each company that incorporates it. This is obtained by multiplying the daily value of the share 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 notified every three or six months, as the case may be.

Reading a stock market index also requires examining its evolution over time. New indices always start with a fixed value based on stock prices on their start date, but not everyone follows this method. Therefore, it can lead to failures.

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

These are the main stock market indices

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, we must not forget the Nasdaq 100that connects 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 CAC 40 of the Paris Stock Exchange; and the IBEX 35of the Spanish stock exchange.

In the asian continentthe main stock market indices are the Nikki 225, made up of the 225 largest companies on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Also SSE composite index, which is listed as the strongest in China, made up of the most important companies on 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 Powerful 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.

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.