An Australian Stock Exchange measure of the share-price movements of more than 300 Australian companies. The market capitalisation of these companies totals about 95 per cent of the value of shares listed on the exchange. The All-Ordinaries index was established in January 1980 with a base of 500 (so that an index of 2000 indicates a fourfold increase in the value of the stocks since 1980). It is calculated continuously and is published daily. Other share indexes calculated from Australian Stock Exchange trading include: All Industrial index - a measure of price movements of about 220 industrial companies listed on the exchange; All Resources index - follows the prices of a selection of mining and exploration companies; 50 Leaders index - a narrower measure than the All-Ordinaries, choosing the 50 largest companies in terms of market capitalisation; 20 Leaders index - the 'blue-chip' index, following price changes in the shares of Australia's twenty largest companies by market capitalisation; specific industry indexes - a group of about 30 indexes, each measuring share-price movements in an industry such as banking or the media, used mainly by stockbrokers' analysts and portfolio managers. Each stockmarket index is matched by an 'accumulation index' which provides an alternative measure based on share price and dividend income, assuming that all dividends are reinvested. See also: Dow Jones index, Financial Times index, Nikkei 225 index.
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