This year, the markets have experienced constant volatility. (Infobase)

Bearish session for the psi 20which opens Wednesday, February 22 with drops of 0.84%until the 5,963.54 points, after opening. Regarding the changes of this day compared to days past, the psi 20 sum three successive dates in the fall.

Last week the psi 20 marks an ascent of 0.14%for this reason, for a year, it always maintains an increase in the 8.09%. He psi 20 is located at 1.29% below its maximum this year (6,041.64 points) and a 2.31% above its minimum valuation for the current year (5,829.15 points).

Stock market indices… What for?

a stock market index It is an indicator that shows how the value of a set of assets is changingfor which it takes data from different companies or sectors of a market fragment.

These indicators are mainly used by the exchanges of the countries and each of them can be integrated by companies with specific needs 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 market 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. If investors are not confident, stock prices will tend to fall.

They are also working to measure the performance of an asset manager and allow investors to compare 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 in era), as well as 12 shares of other types of companies

Currently, in our economy, there are various indices and They can group together based on geographic location, 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).

How is a stock index measured?

Each stock index has its own calculation method, but the main component is the market capitalization of each firm that integrates it. This is obtained by multiplying the value of the security 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 notified every three or six months, as the case may be.

Reading a stock market index also requires taking care of its evolution over time. Current indices always open at 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 increases by 500 points in one day, while another adds only 20, it may seem that the former has performed better. But, if the first started the day at 30,000 points and the other at 300, we can conclude that in terms of percentage, the gains of the second were more remarkable.

What 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. Also S&P500, which includes 500 of the largest companies on the New York Stock Exchange. Finally, 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 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 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 can be considered the main one in 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 influential 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.

In addition, 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.

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