The FTSE Global Equity Index Series is a series of

stock market indices In finance, a stock index, or stock market index, is an index that measures a stock market, or a subset of the stock market, that helps investors compare current stock price levels with past prices to calculate market performance. Two of the ...

provided by FTSE Group. It was launched in September 2003, and provides coverage of over 16,000

stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...

s in 48 countries. The series comprises various global and local indexes, including: * FTSE Global Total Cap Index, a global index covering approximately 16,000 stocks from micro cap to large cap * FTSE Global All Cap Index, a global index covering approximately 9,000 stocks from small cap to large cap * FTSE All-World Index, a global index covering approximately 4,000 mid cap and large cap stocks Several of the indices in the series are used by The Vanguard Group as bases of their mutual funds and '' ETFs.''

Overview of indexes

These are some of the most important indexes managed by FTSE:

FTSE All-World Index

The FTSE All-World index started in 1986 as the ''FT-Actuaries World Index''. The All-World series is sub-divided into three segments: *Developed *Advanced Emerging *Emerging Markets The Base Date is December 31, 1986.

History

This index has been calculated since 31 December 1986, originally as the FT-Actuaries World Indices. In 1995, Wood Mackenzie and Co., one of the original partners, sold its stake to Standard & Poor’s. The name of the index was changed to FT/S&P – Actuaries World Indices. On 29 November 1999, ''FTSE International Limited'' acquired the stakes of

Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...

and

Standard & Poor’s S&P Global Ratings (previously Standard & Poor's and informally known as S&P) is an American credit rating agency (CRA) and a division of S&P Global that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks, bonds, and commodities. S&P is consi ...

. The name changed to the FTSE World Index series. FTSE took exclusive rights to integrate the Baring Emerging Markets data series with its existing FTSE World Index series. This resulted in the creation of the FTSE All-World Index series on June 30, 2000. *The FTSE All-World Index was launched in the year 2000. On September 22, 2003, FTSE introduced enhancements to improve the coverage of mid cap stocks in the index and remove some smaller stocks.

Countries/Regions

The index includes companies in the following countries/regions: *

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

* Austria * Belgium * Brazil * Canada * Chile * China * Colombia * Czech Rep. * Denmark * Egypt * Finland * France * Germany * Greece * Hong Kong * Hungary * Iceland * India * Indonesia * Ireland * Israel * Italy * Japan * Korea * Kuwait * Malaysia * Mexico * Netherlands * New Zealand * Norway * Pakistan * Philippines * Poland * Portugal * Qatar * Romania * Saudi Arabia * Singapore * South Africa * Spain * Sweden * Switzerland * Taiwan * Thailand * Turkey * UAE * UK * USA

Total annual returns

References