All Ordinaries

Established in January 1980, the All Ordinaries (colloquially known as the "All Ords"; also known as the All Ordinaries Index, AOI) is the oldest of shares in Australia. It is made up of the share prices for 500 of the largest companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). The market capitalization of the companies included in the All Ords index amounts to over 95% of the value of all shares listed on the ASX. The 3-letter exchange ticker in Australia for the All Ordinaries is "XAO".

When established, the All Ords had a base index of 500; this means that if the index is currently at 5000 points, the value of stocks in the All Ords has increased tenfold since January 1980.

On 3 April 2000, the All Ords was restructured to consist of the 500 largest companies by market capitalisation. This coincided with the introduction of new benchmark indices such as the S&P/ASX 200. The importance of the All Ords has been significantly lessened by the introduction of these new indices.

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