- Education
- Introduction to Trading
- What are Stock Market Indices
- CAC 40 Index
CAC 40 Index - CAC 40 Futures
The CAC 40 Index (abbreviation for Cotation Assistée en Continu) is the most significant stock index in France. The index is calculated as a weighted average of the value of the prices of the 40 largest French stock companies. Shares of these companies are in free float and are traded in Euronext Paris Stock Exchange. The CAC 40 Index does not consider stock dividends.
CAC 40 was set on June 15, 1988 and is computed in Euronext Paris Stock Exchange. The base date of CAC 40 stock index is 31.12.1987 – at this moment the base value of the index was equal to 1,000. CAC 40 index includes only the stocks of French companies, but most of them have features of transnational corporations, that is why the purchase of these stocks are investments not only in national but also in international markets. Non-residents of France possess half of the stocks that form the index.
CAC 40 index is calculated once per 30 seconds 9:00 – 17:30 (CET). The prices of the stocks in Euronext Paris Stock Exchange are used (NYSE Euronext in Paris).
CAC 40 index includes stock prices of such companies as Renault, BNP Paribas, Alcatel-Lucent, L'Oréal, ArcelorMittal, AXA, Crédit Agricole, France Télécom, GDF Suez, Michelin, Groupe Danone and others. Each company has its own weight in the index. Total market capitalization of the companies exceeds 1 trillion Euro.
Apart from CAC 40 index, general SBF 250 index is also actively traded.
CAC 40 index is the basis for futures traded in the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange and in the Euronext LIFFE electronic trading system.
With IFC Markets traders have an opportunity to trade FR 40 index or CAC 40 Index including 40 French companies, composed similar to the CAC 40 (in standard composition and weights of separate issuers). This index is a synthetic continuous instrument (without date of expiration).You can watch CAC 40 Live Chart to get the historical and real time prices.