All-Ordinaries Stock Index

Ask someone in the U.S., "how did the stock market do today?" and they are likely to tell you how the S&P 500 performed. Or, if they're old school and they might quote you the Dow Industrial Average.

Ask the same question in Sydney or Melbourne and they might tell you how the All-Ordinaries Stock Index did. Well, they might still quote the S&P 500. But they are far more likely to bring up the All-Ordinaries than someone in NYC.

The All-Ordinaries Index is the main tracking index for the Australian stock exchange. It tracks the 500 largest companies on the Australian exchange, as figured by market cap.