Deutsche Boerse Group - The DAX Index Turns 15 - Index Is Leading Benchmark For The German Equity Market

On July 1, the DAX German blue-chip index will be 15 years old. The index was calculated and published for the first time on July 1, 1988. The DAX has become the leading benchmark for an investment in German equities and is the most well-known German share index.

"Information accompanies every transaction in the financial markets. Independent information such as indices is indispensable for investors to make balanced decisions," said Christoph Lammersdorf, Managing Director at Deutsche Börse and responsible for Information Services. "The DAX index is one of the most highly regarded equity indices in Europe."

Over the last 15 years, Deutsche Börse has continuously developed the DAX index, one of its most well-known brands. This has made the index an attractive and acknowledged underlying instrument for products traded on and off the exchanges. In the meantime, in addition to options and futures, warrants, certificates and investment funds, there are also ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds), a derivative on an ETF and savings accounts based on the index. Over 3,000 products were issued on the DAX index last year, and more than 2,000 products by the end of June in this year alone. The DAX option and DAX future on the Eurex derivatives market are among the most liquid index products worldwide. The ETF on the DAX index is the most heavily traded ETF in Europe, with average monthly turnover of 1.4 billion euros.

The DAX index's predecessors were the Hardy index in 1959 by the bank of the same name and the Börsen-Zeitung index from 1981. The development of German blue chips can thus be tracked back with the DAX index by around 44 years. With its 30 equities and a capitalization of some 333 billion euros, the index reflects about 85 percent of the whole German equity market with a market capitalization of 390 billion euros.

In addition to the DAX index, Deutsche Börse has developed an index family tailored to the needs of investors and issuers. The indices DAX, MDAX, SDAX and TecDAX provide investors with an independent benchmark for their investment decisions and an attractive underlying for financial products. The indices give domestic and foreign issuers an attractive showcase for investors. Together with the segments Prime and General Standard, they also offer a competitive framework for initial public offerings.