Deutsche Börse Celebrates 20 Years of DAX

Deutsche Börse celebrated the 20-year anniversary of its leading index DAX® with leading representatives of the German economy and politics in the Main Trading Hall in Frankfurt on Tuesday. The DAX index tracks the 30 largest and best-performing German companies traded in Frankfurt. DAX is the most successful and best-known Deutsche Börse brand; following its launch on 1 July 1988, DAX quickly became Germany’s leading equity index.

“Over the last 20 years, DAX has established itself as a global brand for the German economy and its best companies. An inclusion in the DAX-Index is a synonym for the most exclusive club for German enterprises. This draws international attention and also the focus of investors on those companies ,” said Deutsche Börse AG Executive Board Chairman Reto Francioni.

As an index, the DAX was designed with the goal of serving as a basis for financial instruments. This index innovation has also positioned itself excellently in international terms. As an underlying for futures and options, the DAX ranks third worldwide behind the S&P 500 and Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50®, with a trading volume of EUR 12.8 billion in 2007. Overall, around 24,000 products, ranging from reverse convertibles to certificates and warrants, are traded on the DAX. The fiveExchange Traded Funds (ETFs) on the DAX have more than EUR 4.5 billion in assets under management.

The success of DAX is largely due to its transparency, its completely rule-based approach and its high tradability. As a performance index, the DAX is calculated and distributed every second by Deutsche Börse. It takes dividend payments into account, thus fully reflecting the actual performance of an investment. Today, the 30 DAX stocks comprise just under 80 percent of the total market capitalization of all listed German companies. Deutsche Börse has continuously maintained and developed the index since it was launched.

The DAX also mirrors the technological change in structure of the German equities market over the last 20 years. Companies in new sectors such as software and IT have also been promoted to the DAX index. Currently, companies from industry and the automotive sector are most strongly represented in the DAX with around 27 percent, followed by the financial sector comprising financial service providers, banks and insurance companies with around 23 percent, with companies from the pharmaceutical and chemical sectors constituting just under 17 percent.

Based on the DAX selection index, Deutsche Börse has created a global index universe that comprises new subjects and countries as well as strategies. Deutsche Börse indices are synonymous worldwide with top quality and innovation, under names such as DAXglobal® or DAXplus®. Market Data & Analytics calculates and publishes more than 2,600 indices in total. Deutsche Börse thus ranks among the world’s major index providers.

DAX®, DAXplus® and DAXglobal® are registered trademarks of Deutsche Börse AG.

Dow Jones EURO STOXX50®  is a registered trademark of STOXX Ltd.