What is the S&P/TSX index?

The S&P/TSX index is Canada's benchmarking index for its equity market. With about 250 companies listed, it covers around 70% of the market capitalisation on the Toronto Stock Exchange. It is also known as the S&P/TSX composite index.

Where have you heard about the S&P/TSX index?

Newspapers and websites will talk about the index in reference to the overall performance of the Canadian economy and stock market.

What you need to know about the S&P/TSX index.

The TSE 300 was launched by the TSE in 1977, and was a Canadian stock market index that tracked the prices of 300 stocks, traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Since 2002, it has been replaced by the S&P/TSX Composite Index.

This index capitalization-weighted and float-adjusted index and, as a measure of the Canadian stock market, it can be a good barometer of how the national economy is performing.

It is rebalanced quarterly, and containing both stocks and income trust units, the index is dominated by a lot of commodity stocks, particularly crude oil, and reached its peak levels in September 2014 when oil prices rose. Because of the dominance of commodity stocks, the index is more correlated to the fluctuations in commodity prices than many other indexes.