Xinhua Golden Bull 50, a stock index designed by China's official Xinhua News Agency and China Securities Index Co., Ltd, was launched at Shanghai Stock Exchange on Tuesday. The Xinhua Golden Bull 50 Index, coded 000976, samples 50 A-share stocks listed on the country's two bourses, and sets Dec. 31, 2004 as the base day with a base value of 1,000 points. Chosen based on their performance over the past three years and other factors, the 50 samples had a combined market value of 1.86 trillion yuan (305 billion U.S. dollars) as of the end of 2013. Xinhua Golden Bull 50 will be a new analysis instrument for investors, and deriatives can be created based on the index, Xinhua News Agency said in a note. The index is the first designed by a professional index company and the state newswire. Stock indices are designed to reflect the overall performance of the equity market by tracking a number of stocks. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, the Shenzhen Component Index and Hushen 300 are among China's most popular indices.