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Definition

Financial Times Stock Exchange. This is a company which specializes in calculating indexes on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). It has produced a group of indices which are developed and maintained by the JSE and the FTSE working together. You can look at any of the JSE/FTSE indexes in your software by just typing "JSE-". These indices incorporate the "free float" of the securities which make them up. Thus only shares which are free-dealing will have a major impact on the index. The FTSE/JSE indices are used as an indicator of the performance of a sector on a continuous basis. It is a statistically representative group of shares to which a starting value of 100 was initially ascribed. Since the inception of the index it has measured rises and falls in the capital values of the shares represented by the index. There are indices for every sector of the JSE as well as overall indices for the total market or major segments, e.g. financial and industrial. FTSE also calculates the so-called "Footsie" indexes of the largest companies on the LSE. So they produce the Footsie 100, the Footsie 250 and the FTSE 350 which include the 100, 250 and 350 largest companies trading on the LSE. The following chart shows the Footsie 100 going back to May 1988:
<figure class="container-fluid"><img class="img-responsive" style="display: block; margin: 0 auto; max-width: 100%;" src="/onlinecourse/img/glossary/Ft-100.jpg" alt="FT-100" />
<figcaption style="text-align: center;">Financial Times 100 Index (FT-100)</figcaption>
</figure>

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