Stock Exchange Indices Stock price indices measure how a particular group of shares or the market as a whole are performing. They are best used as a benchmark against which you can measure the performance of your portfolio. The NZSE40 is the index most frequently used as a barometer of the market's performance. The NZSE provides a number of other indices which follow the performance of certain segments of the market, such as small companies, the top 10 companies and the top 30 companies. Indices are quoted either as gross or capital.
Capital indices reflect increases or decreases of the market value based on the price of shares.
Gross indices are adjusted to account for dividends paid out by the companies in the index as well as changes in the share price. This gives a better measure of the total return on shares. Tax and Dividend Imputations New Zealand has a system of dividend imputation. When a company attaches imputation credits, the dividends are referred to as being imputed. Depending on the tax status of the company, dividends are either fully, partially or not imputed.