What is the Euro Stoxx 50 index?

The Euro Stoxx 50 index is the leading blue-chip index for the euro-zone. It contains companies that are the leaders in their sectors and contains 50 stocks from 11 eurozone countries: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

Where have you heard about the Euro Stoxx 50 index?

As an investor, you may well have been made aware of the creation of the Euro Stoxx 50 index in 1998 and its subsequent role in gauging the stock-market sentiment inside the eurozone. Your financial adviser may have suggested a Euro Stoxx 50 investment as a good way to get exposure to big businesses in the single currency area.

What you need to know about the Euro Stoxx 50 index...

The Euro Stoxx 50 index is compiled by Stoxx, the index provider that is wholly owned by Germany's premier stock exchange, Deutsche Borse. Unlike the similar European index compiled by Dow Jones, the Euro Stoxx 50 index restricts membership to companies from countries that have adopted the single currency, the euro.

That means there are no UK companies in the index.

The Euro Stoxx 50 is licensed to financial services companies for use in constructing products that track the index and is used by fund managers as a benchmark against which to gauge their performance. Companies featuring in the index include Total, Allianz, Siemens, Daimler and Adidas.