Stocks in the ASX 200

The S&P/ASX 200 (XJO) is constituted of the largest listed stocks of Australian companies by market capitalization.  The index acts as the key benchmark for the Australian share market allowing us to track Australian equity performance.

What is the S&P ASX?

The index is created and maintained by the company standard & Poor’s (S&P) in combination with the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). ETFs and Listed Investments Companies (LICs) are excluded form the benchmark. The benchmark is rebalanced quarterly in March, June, September, and December. Or sooner if significant events such as delistingings, mergers or large IPOs occur. 

The index was created on 31^st March 2000, with an initial value of 3133.3. The ASX200 accounts for around 88% of the total share market capitalisation (as of April 2021).

There are three Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) that track the ASX200 index. ETFs are investments funds that track the benchmark by bundling together all the stocks of the index into one easy to trade product. The goal of these ETFs is to allow investors to replicate the performance of the index (less fees, taxes, and expenses). A200 tracks the 200 largest companies but not necessarily the index. Another honourable mention is Vanguard Australian Shares Index (VAS) which tracks the S&P/ASX 300. All of these options are decent, our favourites are VAS, A200, and IOZ. These ETFs are low cost and achieve much the same product. The low-cost price of VAS has caused the competitors to reduce prices, in 2018 A200 was created which is by far the lowest cost option which caused the other ETFs to further reduce costs.

iShares Core S&P/ASX 200 (IOZ)

Manager: Blackrock

Inception: 2010

Fees:0.09%

Betashares FTSE RAFI Aust 200 (QOZ)

Manager: Betashares

Inception: 2013

Fees:0.40%           

SPDR S&P/ASX200 Fund (STW)

Manager: State STret Global Advisors

Inception: 2001

Fees: 0.13%

BetaShares (A200) *

Manager: Betashares

Inception: 2018

Fees: 0.07%

Vanguard Australian Shares Index (VAS) *

Manager: Vanguard

Inception:2009

Fees:0.10%

Industry Classification Breakdown

The ASX 200 can be broken down according to the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) into specific categories. From this we can see the index is largely comprised of financials (30.3%) and materials (18.3%).

Fundamentals

The current price of the XJO is 7060.7, in April 2021 the index has been approaching all-time highs following the previous highs of pre-COVID 2020 and higher than pre-GFC in 2007. The ASX all ordinaries, which accounts for all stocks rather than the top 200 has already reached all-time highs.

Trading Symbols: XJO, AXJO, INDEXASX:XJO

Related Indices:

• S&P/ASX20 XTL
• S&P/ASX50 XFL
• S&P/ASX100 XTO
• S&P/ASX 200 VIX XVI
• S&P/ASX300 XKO
• All Ordinaries XAO
• S&P/ASX Small ordinaries XSO
• S&P/ASX A-REIT (sector) XPJ

Dividend Yield: 2.80%

PE Ratio: 55.40

Historical Return: 3.72%pa excluding dividends, 7.97%pa including dividends.

Note the ASX 200 index does not include dividends and thus isn’t representative of actual investor returns, instead the S&P/ASX200 Accumulation Index (XJOA) or the S&PASX Gross Total Return Index (XJT) is used as a performance benchmark for portfolio returns as they include total returns. Another index of interest is the S&PASX 200 Net Total Return Index (XNT) includes all cash dividends reinvested after the deduction of a 30% withholding tax.

This is a chart of the S&PASX 200 Net Total Return Index (XNT), which is more representative of investor returns.

Above I mentioned that the PE of the ASX 200 is 55.40. This seems extremely overpriced and has been influenced by COVID-19 which dramatically impacted earnings across these companies. Since then, the share price has recovered. However, companies are still yet to report normal earnings. Generally, the PE of the ASX 200 ranges around 15-20 times. Here is the PE ratio vs Price for all ordinaries which is very similar to ASX 200.

List of ASX 200 Companies (April 2021)