Thursday, August 2, 2007

HANG SENG INDEX

"Hang Seng" redirects here. For the bank with the same name, see Hang Seng Bank. For all other uses, see Hang Seng (disambiguation).

The Hang Seng Index (abbreviated: HSI, Chinese: 恒生指數) is a capitalization-weighted stock market index in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It is used to record and monitor daily changes of the largest companies of the Hong Kong stock market and as the main indicator of the overall market performance in Hong Kong. These 39 companies represent about 65% of capitalization of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

HSI was started on November 24, 1969, compiled and maintained by HSI Services Limited, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hang Seng Bank, the second largest bank listed in Hong Kong in terms of market capitalisation. It is responsible for compiling, publishing and managing the Hang Seng Index and a range of other stock indexes, such as Hang Seng Composite Index, Hang Seng HK MidCap Index, etc.

Statistics

When the Hang Seng Index was first published, its base of 100 points was set equivalent to the stocks' total value as of the market close on July 31, 1964. Its all-time low is 58.61 points, reached retroactively on August 31, 1967, after the base value was established but before the publication of the index. The Hang Seng passed the 10,000 point milestone for the first time in its history on December 6, 1993 and, 13 years later, passed the 20,000 point milestone on December 28, 2006. Its all-time highs, set on July 24, 2007, are 23,534.38 points in trading and 23,472.88 points at the close.

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