The main index of the Vienna Stock Exchange gains ground during the opening of the session on March 17

Good start to the day ATXwhich opens the day of Friday March 17 with increases of 1.61%until the 3,198.16 points, after opening. Compared to previous days, the ATX With this data, the negative streak that was marked in the previous two days is stopped.

Considering last week, the ATX records a decrease of 7.18%for this reason, for a year, it always maintains a drop in 3.95%. He ATX is located at 10.09% below its maximum this year (3,557.01 points) and a 1.61% above its minimum valuation for the current year (3,147.44 points).

a stock market index It is an indicator that measures the evolution of the price of a 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 stock markets of different countries of the world and each of them can be integrated by companies with specific requirements 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 the stock market, business confidence, the health of the national and global economy and the performance of stock investments and shares of an entity. If investors lack confidence, stock values ​​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 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

Today in our economy there are various indices and they can group together based on geography, industries, company size, or even asset classFor 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).

Each stock index has its own way of being measured, but the main factor is the market capitalization of each company that incorporates it. This is obtained by multiplying the 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 means observing its variations over time. New indices always start with a fixed value based on security prices on their start date, but not everyone follows this method. So it can be confusing.

If one index sees an increase of 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 assume that in percentage terms the gains for the second were more remarkable.

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, the Nasdaq 100which associates 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 most outstanding 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. There is also the SSE composite index, which is listed as the most notable in China, consisting 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 the Latin American regionyou have the IPCwhich contains the 35 Most Outstanding 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.