Interesting facts about the CAC (CAC40 index of the French stock exchange)
CAC 40 is an abbreviation of the French Cotation Assistée en Continu. Futures on the CAC 40 index are assigned with the FCE ticker. The index was put into circulation on June 15, 1988. For the convenience of calculations, the starting rate of CAC 40 is assumed to be equal to 1000 points. The prerequisite for creating CAC 40 was the devastating crisis of the French stock market in 1987.
Although the basket of the index is represented by French companies, CAC 40 is considered international. Foreign players actively invest in the shares of French companies, so 40-50% of the securities that make up the CAC 40 basket do not belong to French investors.
The index rate is influenced by several factors: The general state of the world economy (for example, the pandemic caused the collapse of stock markets all over the world, and CAC 40 was no exception); The state of the real sector of the French economy; Changes in the monetary policy of the EU and the USA; Force majeure factors directly related to France, for example, terrorist attacks or natural disasters.
The industrial sector, healthcare, consumer goods production, and the oil and gas industry are leading industries in the basket of the index. The composition of the basket is reviewed quarterly. This usually happens in March, June, September, and December on the Monday following the third Friday of the month.
CAC 40 is a good choice for medium-term investment and active trading. France accounts for about a fifth of the entire European economy, so it is important for traders to monitor the price of the CAC 40 index to determine where the European economy is heading. During the working days of the exchange, the index is calculated every 15 seconds from 11:00 to 19:30 (GMT+3, indicated in LiteFinance trading platform).
