ATX begins operations in negative terrain this August 18

This year the markets have registered a constant volatility. (Infobae)

Bearish session for the ATX, which begins on Friday, August 18 with slight decreases of 0.4%, to 3,113.30 points, after the start of the opening session. Regarding past days, the ATX accumulates two consecutive sessions in negative digits.

Taking into account the last week, the ATX registers a drop of 1.08%; On the other hand, in year-on-year terms, it still accumulates a rise of 3.76%. He ATX it stands 12.47% below its maximum this year (3,557.01 points) and 2.93% above its minimum price so far this year (3,024.58 points).

A stock index is an indicator that shows how the price of a certain set of assets is evolving, for which it collects data from various companies or sectors of a fragment of the market.

These indicators are used mainly by the stock markets of various nations and each one of them can be integrated by firms with different specificities, such as having a similar market capitalization or belonging to the same industry. There are also some indices that only take into account a handful of shares to determine its value or others that consider hundreds of shares.

Stock indices serve as an indicator of confidence in the stock market, business confidence, the health of the national and global economy, and the performance of investments in shares and shares of an entity. Generally, if investors are not confident, stock prices will tend to fall.

They also work to measure the performance of an asset manager and allow investors to analyze risk vs. return comparisons; 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 the shares of companies tended to rise or fall together in price, he created two indices: one that contained the 20 largest railway companies (as it was the most important industry at the time), as well as 12 shares of other types of businesses

Currently in humanity there are various indices and they can be grouped based on their geographical location, sectors, the size of the companies or the type of asset, for example, the US Nasdaq index is made up of the 100 largest companies mostly related to the technologies 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 component is the market capitalization of each company that integrates it. This is obtained by multiplying the value of the title on the corresponding stock market by the total number of shares that are on the market.

The companies that are in the stock market are obliged to present a balance sheet of their composition. Said report must be made public every three or six months, as appropriate.

Reading a stock index also implies observing its changes over time. Current indices are always listed with a fixed value based on the stock prices on their inception date, but not all follow this method. Therefore, it can be a source of misunderstandings.

If one index adds 500 points in one day, while another only adds 20, it might appear that the former performed better. But, if the former started the day at 30,000 points and the other at 300, you can see that, in percentage terms, the gains for the latter were more remarkable.

Among the main stock market indices in the American Union is the Dow Jones Industrial Average, better known as Dow Jones, which is made up of 30 companies. Likewise, the S&P 500, which comprises 500 of the largest companies on the New York Stock Exchange. Finally, the Nasdaq 100 appears, which brings together 100 of the largest non-financial firms.

On the other hand, the most important indices in Europe are the Eurostoxx 50, which covers the 50 most important companies in the euro area. On the other hand, the DAX 30, the main German index that contains the strongest companies on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange; the FTSE 100 of the London Stock Exchange; the CAC 40 of the Paris Stock Exchange; and the IBEX 35, of the Spanish stock market.

On the Asian continent, we have the Nikkei 225, made up of the 225 most important companies on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Likewise, the SSE Composite Index is seen as the most notable in China, made up of the most prominent companies on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Similarly, it is worth mentioning the Hang Seung Index in Hong Kong and the KOSPI in South Korea.

With regard to the Latin American region, there is the IPC, which contains the 35 most influential firms on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV). At least a third of them are part of the patrimony of tycoon Carlos Slim.

Another is the Bovespa, made up of the 50 most important companies on the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange; the Merval from Argentina; the IPSA of Chile; the MSCI COLCAP of Colombia; the IBC of Caracas, made up of 6 companies from Venezuela.

Similarly, there are other types of global stock indices such as the MSCI Latin America, which includes the 137 most important companies in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

Similarly, there is the MSCI World, which includes 1,600 companies from 23 developed countries; the MSCI Emerging Markets, made up of more than 800 companies from developing countries; and the S&P Global 100, made up of the 100 most powerful multinational firms on the entire planet.

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