Figures released today for the Redux Global ICT 100 Index ('R-100') show a rise of nearly 2% across the 100 telecoms, wireless, IT, technology and new media stocks which comprise the Index. As of 29 October, 2004, the R-100 stood at 971.57, up from 953.46 at the end of September. That's a 1.89% rise over the month – the R-100's second consecutive gain after two early losses in July and August. It also marks a rise of nearly 5% since the end of August.

Included in the R-100 for the first time in October were companies such as Google, Sagem, EDS, CosmOTE and Liberty Media – replacing the likes of AT&T Wireless, T-Online, PanAmSat and Mobilcom. The effect of this adjustment in terms of the R-100's capitalisation was broadly neutral. That capitalisation was US$3,256bn as of 01 October, 2004 – so it has picked up by about US$65bn in the last four weeks.

These latest figures also carry a currency adjustment, reflecting a period in which the euro has done well and the dollar has done less well (since July 2004 – although most other currencies are pegged to one, or the other, or in a limbo-land between both, so the effect is mostly neutral).

Bush-Kerry?
Over the R-100 as a whole, there were 51 gainers for the month, 47 fallers and two no-change shares. The European component was up 3.7%; the North American tribe was up 2.1%; Asia-Pacific stocks in the R-100 fell by roughly 2%.

Stand-out stocks in the US included Apple and new entrant Google, with smaller gains for the likes of Intel and Sun Microsystems. Among carriers, AT&T gained more than 15% but the RBOCs dropped back. The difference here may be that the RBOCs are not subject to takeover speculation.

In Europe, most PTOs and cellular companies posted modest gains during October, led by TeliaSonera (up 6%) while equipment suppliers and service vendors looked wan. By contrast, in Asia, manufacturers looked brighter while carriers (fixed and mobile) were nudged southwards.

Further analysis of these results will appear shortly, including the Tracker Indexes for fixed carriers, mobile operators and the new 'Internet Pentagram'. The latter has already been described by one analyst as 'the ultimate barometer of e-commerce'. Sounds like fun.
Jim Chalmers