Stock Markets of the World

Publicans in ancient Rome are wrongly known as ancient Rome’s Tax Collectors, but they were more than that. In fact Publicans were public contractors, in which role they often supplied the Roman military, managed the collection of port duties, oversaw public building projects and also managed participation contracts called "socii" for large cooperatives and "particulae" for small companies which were analogous to today's Over-The-Counter shares. According to Edward Chancellor Public auction was known in ancient Rome. In his book Devil Take the Hindmost, Chancellor stated that Polybius (ca. 203–120 BC, Greek Πολύβιος) the Greek historian, famous for his book The Histories or The Rise of the Roman Empire reports that by the second century B.C. people was really frenetic buying and selling papers. But unfortunelly we are not sure how that worked at that time.
What we do know is that the first company to issue shares of stock was the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC ) in 1602. Joint ownership sponsored Europe's economic growth by financing the building of ships, ending the Dark Ages and introducing the new and prosperous age of Mercantilism.

The trade in shares in London began with the need to finance two voyages: The Muscovy Company's attempt to reach China via the White Sea north of Russia, and the East India Company voyage to India and the east. In 1695 there were almost 140 joint-stock companies that financed these costly journeys, the companies raised the money by selling shares to merchants, giving them a right to a portion of any profits eventually made.
The NYSE founded in May 17, 1792, when 24 men signed under a buttonwood tree the Buttonwood Agreement outside of Wall Street in New York.
The need for an index to balance shares activities into the economy leaded to the Dow Jones Industrial average first published on May 26, 1896. The DJIA represented the average of twelve stocks from various important American industries. It was computed as a direct average, by first adding up stock prices of its components and then dividing by the number of stocks, it was first published at the figure 40.94.
Dow Jones Index has adopted the Price-weighted method where the price of each component stock is the only consideration when determining the value of the index. Concerns about the relative size of the companies as a hole leaded to the creation of another kind of weight, the value weighted or capitalization-weighted index, in which a relatively small shift in the price of a large company will heavily influence the value of the index.
There are stock exchanges located all over the world, and it is possible negotiate stocks on anyone of them, just taking into the consideration its oparating hours of exchange. Both the NYSE and NASDAQ, for example, operate from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm Eastern Time, Monday through Friday. Others have similar opening hours based on their local time. When you trade on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, your order will be processed sometime between 9:30 pm and 4:00 am New York time.
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE - Hebrew: הבורסה לניירות ערך בתל אביב‎) located in Israel operates from Sunday through Thursday and the Exchange is closed on Friday.
Stock indices all over the world works as an economic wealth thermometer, stabbed into several places over the Earth, but as the practice of medicine, they should combine both science as the evidence base and art in the application of this medical knowledge in combination with intuition and clinical judgment to determine the treatment plan for each patient. As Henry Ford said on his book Today and Tomorrow “The stock market as such has nothing to do with business. It has nothing to do with the quality of the article which is manufactured, nothing to do with the output, nothing to do with the marketing, it does not even increase or decrease the amount of capital used in the business. It is just a little show on the side.”
List of the main stock market indices:
Global indices
1 - BBC Global 30 - mixes the economic information of 30 of the world's largest companies based in three continents.
2 - MSCI World - selection of stocks of all the developed markets in the world, as defined by MSCI,- Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States
3 - S&P Global 100 - measures the performance of 100 multinational companies
4 - S&P Global 1200 - real time, free-float weighted stock market index of global stocks from Standard & Poor's. The index covers 31 countries and approximately 70 percent of global market capitalization. It is comprised of six regional indices:
S&P 500 Index;
S&P/TSX 60 Index (Canada)
S&P Latin America 40 Index (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile)
S&P/TOPIX 150 Index (Japan)
S&P Asia 50 Index (Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan)
S&P/ASX 50 Index (Australia)
S&P Europe 350 Index
5 - Russell Global 10000 Launched 17/01/07 - captures 98% of the global equity market, reflecting the performance of more than 10000 stocks worldwide.
6 - FTSE CNBC Global 300 - Consumer News and Business Channel index of 300 global corporations, through 18 subsectors in conjunction with London's FTSE Group.
National indexes
- Argentina
MERVAL - 12 Companies
- Australia
All Ordinaries
S&P/ASX 200
- Austria
ATX
- Belgium
BEL20
- Brazil
Ibovespa - Bovespa Index
IBX - Brazil Index (~100 companies)
IBX50 - Brazil Index (50 companies)
IBVX-2 - Valor Bovespa Index (with Valor Econômico newspaper)
IEE (index) - Electric Power Index
IGC (index) - Special Corporate Governance Stock Index
ITEL - Telecommunication Sector Index
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
BIRS - main market index
FIRS - investment funds index
ERS10 - power utility index
- Bulgaria
SOFIX
BG40
- Canada
S&P/TSX 60
S&P/TSX Composite Index
S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index
- Chile
IPSA
IGPA
- China
SSE Composite - Shànghǎi Zhèngquàn Jiāoyìsuǒ - Shanghai Stock Exchange
- Croatia
CROBEX
CROBIS
CROEMI
- Cyprus
CySE GENERAL
FTSE/CySE20

- Czech Republic
PX 50
- Denmark
OMX Copenhagen 20 (OMXC20)
OMX Copenhagen (OMXC) (all share)
- Egypt
CASE 30
EFG-Hermes
- Estonia
OMX Tallinn (OMXT)
- Finland
OMX Helsinki 25 (OMXH25)
- France
CAC 40
CAC Next 20
SBF 250
- Germany
DAX
TecDAX
NEMAX 50 (discontinued in 2004)
MDAX (Mid Cap)
SDAX (Small Cap)
GEX
- Ghana
GSE All-Share Index
- Hong Kong
Hang Seng Index
HSI-Commerce and Properties
HSI-Finance
HSI-Utilities
HSI-Properties
Hang Seng China Enter Index
Hang Seng MidCap 50 Index
Hang Seng China-Aff Corp Index
Hang Seng 100
Hang Seng IT Index
Hang Seng IT Portfolio Index
GEM (Growing Enterprise Market) Index
- Hungary
BUX
BUMIX
RAX
- Iceland
OMX Iceland 15
- India
NSE-50 (also called Nifty)
BSE Sensex
CMIE COSPI
BSE 100
BSE 200
BSE 500
BSE TECK
BSE IT
BSE FMCG
BSE CD
BSE Metal
BSE PSU
BSE mid-cap
BSE small cap
BSE Auto
BSE Pharma
Nifty Jr.
- Indonesia
(Stock ticker)
IHSG (Indeks Harga Saham Gabungan — Composite Stock Price Index), also called Jakarta Composite Index
LQ-45
JII (Jakarta Islamic Index)
MBX (Main Board Index)
DBX (Development Board Index)
- Iran
TSE Main Board Index
TSE Secondary Board Index
TSE WAX INDEX
TSE INDUSTRIAL INDEX
TSE TEDPIX
TSE TEDIX
TSE TEPIX
TSE SAX ( 50 Co. Price Weighted Average )
- Ireland
ISEQ Overall Index - Irish Stock Exchange ([9])
ISEQ 20
- Israel
TASE 100 - Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
- Italy
MIB (index) (not used anymore)
MIB30 (not used anymore)
Nuovo Mercato (not used anymore)
MIBTel
S&P/MIB
MIDEX
All STARS
STAR
TechSTAR
- Japan
Nikkei 225 ([10])
Topix
- Jordan
ASE Weighted Index
- Kenya
NSE 20 Share Index
AIG 27 Share Index
- Latvia
OMX Riga (OMXR)
- Luxembourg
LuxX Index - Luxembourg Stock Exchange
- Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur Composite Index
Second Board
MESDAQ
Note that the KLCI and Second Board comes under the umbrella of Bursa Malaysia.
- Mexico
Indice de Precios y Cotizaciones (IPC) ("Bolsa index")
- Morocco
MASI index (Moroccan All Shares Index)
MADEX index (Moroccan Most Active shares Index)
- Moldova
EVM Composite index (Moldovian all shares Index, more details on www.evm.md)
- Montenegro
Index MOSTE
- Netherlands
AEX index ([11])
AMX index (Midcap) ([12])
AScX index (Small Cap)
- New Zealand
NZSX50
- Nigeria
NSXA-B index (The All-Share Index) ([13])
- Norway
OSE All Share ([14])
- Oman
MSM-30
- Pakistan
KSE 100 Index
KSE All Share Index
KSE-30 Index
LSE 25
ISE 10
broad-base index since 1947
- Palestine
Al Quds Index
- Peru
IGBVL 20 shares main index
ISBVL 20 shares index
- Philippines
PSE Index (PSEi)
PSE All Shares Index
PSE Financials Index
PSE Industrial Index
PSE Holding Firms Index
PSE Property Index
PSE Services Index
PSE Mining & Oil Index
- Poland
WIG
WIG 20
mWIG 40
sWIG 80
- Portugal
PSI-20 ([15])
PSI Geral
- Qatar
DSM-20
- Romania
BET-10
- Russia
MICEX (Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange)
RTS Index (RTSI)
CSFB ROS Index
RTX
- Saudi Arabia
Tadawul
BMG Index
- Singapore
Straits Times Index (STI)
United Overseas Bank SESDAQ (UOB-SESDAQ)
- Slovenia
SBI 20 (Slovene Stock Exchange Index)
SBI TOP (Slovene Blue Chip Index)
- South Africa
ALSI
- South Korea
KOSPI
- Spain
IBEX 35
MADX
Mercado Continuo
- Sweden
Attract 40
OMX Nordic Mid Cap
OMX Stockholm 30 (OMXS30)
OMX Stockholm PI (OMXSPI)
- Switzerland
Swiss Market Index ([16])
- Taiwan
Taiwan Capitalization Weighted Stock Index (TAIEX)
- Thailand
SET Index
SET50 Index
MAI Index
- Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange (TTSE)
- Turkey
ISE-100 Index
- Ukraine
PFTS index
- United Kingdom
FT30 Index
FTSE 100 Index
FTSE MID 250 Index
FTSE 350 Index
FTSE All-Share Index
FTSE Fledgling Index
FTSE techMark Index
FTSE AIM All-Share Index
- United States
CBOE indices
CBOE DJIA BuyWrite Index (BXD)
CBOE NASDAQ-100 BuyWrite Index (BXN)
CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite Index (BXM)
CBOE Volatility Index (VIX)
Dow Jones & Company indices
Dow Jones Composite Average
Dow Jones Global Titans
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Dow Jones Transportation Average
Dow Jones Utility Average
Dow Jones U.S. Large Cap Growth
Dow Jones U.S. Large Cap Value
Dow Jones U.S. Small Cap Growth
Dow Jones U.S. Small Cap Value
Dow Jones U.S. Total Market
Dow Jones Wilshire 4500
Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 Total Stock Market
Goldman Sachs indices
GSTI Semiconductor Index
GSTI Software Index
Nasdaq indices
NASDAQ Composite ([19])
NASDAQ-100
Russell Indexes (published by Russell Investment Group)
Russell 3000
Russell 3000 Growth
Russell 3000 Value
Russell 1000
Russell 1000 Growth
Russell 1000 Value
Russell 2000
Russell 2000 Growth
Russell 2000 Value
Russell Top 200
Russell Top 200 Growth
Russell Top 200 Value
Russell MidCap
Russell MidCap Growth
Russell MidCap Value
Russell 2500
Russell 2500 Growth
Russell 2500 Value
Russell Small Cap Completeness
Russell Small Cap Completeness Growth
Russell Small Cap Completeness Value
Standard & Poor's indices
S&P 500
S&P Completion
S&P 500/BARRA Growth
S&P 500/BARRA Value
S&P Midcap 400
S&P Midcap 400/BARRA Growth
S&P Midcap 400/BARRA Value
S&P SmallCap 600
S&P SmallCap 600/BARRA Growth
S&P SmallCap 600/BARRA Value
- Vietnam
Vn-Index
HASTC-Index
- Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Industrial Index
Zimbabwe Mining Index