The All Ordinaries index
What is the All Ordinaries index?
The All Ordinaries Index (XAO), often referred to as the “All Ords” is considered as a key indicator of the Australian stock market’s performance. It tracks the 500 largest companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) according to their market capitalisation.
Market capitalization (market cap) is calculated by multiplying the company's current share price by the total number of outstanding shares. It effectively measures the size of a company.
Originally launched in 1980, the All Ords began with a value of 500 and represents close to 90% of the entire value of the ASX, making it a comprehensive reflection of the overall market’s health.
Capitalisation weighted indexes
The All Ords is a capitalisation weighted index, meaning companies with a higher market cap have a greater impact on the index’s performance. The market cap of a company is calculated by multiplying the company’s share price by the total number of shares issued.
What is the ASX 200?
The ASX 200 is a capitalisation weighted index that tracks the performance of the top 200 companies listed on the ASX according to their market cap. Launched on March 31 2000 with a value of 3133.3, it is widely considered as the leading share market index of the Australian market.
The All Ordinaries Total Return Index
Unlike the All Ords Index which does not account for dividends a company may pay to shareholders, the All Ordinaries Total Return Index (XAOA) includes the reinvestment of all cash dividends reinvested on the ex-dividend date (excluding franking credits).
This makes the Total Return Index a more comprehensive measure of investor returns and is sometimes used as a benchmark for total investor performance of the top 250 companies by market capitalisation listed on the ASX.
Calculated using ASX top 500 market capitalisatin as at 4 March 2025
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