"The New Australian Stockmarket Indices"

Neil A Costa

From Monday 25 June 2001 a new set of stockmarket indices became available in Australia. These indices were launched jointly by Standard and Poors (S&P) and Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI), and are known as the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS).

The new indices were introduced in order to make Australian indices consistent with those in other nations. As a consequence, the indices are based on universal industry definitions.

The Global Industry Classification Standards consist of 10 economic sectors aggregated from 23 industry groups, 59 industries and 123 sub-industries. These are based on more than 12,000 companies throughout the world. These 10 GICS economic sectors will replace the 24 sectors in existence at the time.

 

XEJ

S&P/ASX 200 Energy (GIC)

XMJ

S&P/ASX 200 Materials (GIC)

XNJ

S&P/ASX 200 Industrials (GIC)

XDJ

S&P/ASX 200 Consumer Discretionary (GIC)

XSJ

S&P/ASX 200 Consumer Staples (GIC)

XHJ

S&P/ASX 200 Health Care (GIC)

XFJ

S&P/ASX 200 Financials (GIC)

XIJ

S&P/ASX 200 Information Technology (GIC)

XTJ

S&P/ASX 200 Telecommunication Services (GIC)

XUJ

S&P/ASX 200 Utilities (GIC)

Implications for Stockmarket Master Traders

Traders of the Stockmarket Master course use indices quite extensively in their stock selection process. This allows them to isolate groups of the strongest stocks from the more than 1,200 stocks listed on the ASX, in a matter of minutes. It is these strongest stocks that generally produce the biggest trading and investment profits.

The introduction of the new indices will not adversely effect Stockmarket Master traders. This, combined with the back history being made available for the new sectors going back to 31 March 2000, means that there will be more than enough history available.